
Class I IV ^iz^t.% 



Book 



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TrUe History 

OF THE SO-CALLED 

£1,000,000 




THE BANK DUPED 



HOW THE IMPREGNABLE 



BANK - OF » EN6LAND 




Showered Its 

891 7 

BTOS OF GOLD 

ON 

GEORGE BIDWELL 

AN 



American and a Stranger 

50 Cents 

Cbe JBfDwell publtebtng Co, 

HARTFORD, COM. 



*^ 



TESTIMONIALS AS TO ITS INTEREST. 

John C. New, ex- IT. S. Treasurer, 

Introducing Mr. Bidwell to General McCauley at the Gilsey House, New York, 
said to the latter, "I have read 'Forging His Chains' through (this during a 
hot political campaign), my wife has read it, my children have read it, and we 
all regard it as a book of surpassing interest." 

Clarence A. Seivard, Esq*, 

of the great law firm of Seward, DaCosta & Co., New York: "I have read 
' Forging His Chains ' with great interest, and, guided by my own experience and 
knowledge [as attorney for the Bank of England in the Bidwell forgery case], 
1 am convinced of the truthfulness of Mr. Bidwell's narrative." 

Robert G. Ingersoll. 

"I have read 'Forging His Chains' with much interest, and believe it 
will do a great deal of good." 

Ex- Judge Reynolds 

writes: " 'Forging His Chains' is a story of absorbing, sometimes dramatic, 
interest," etc. 

The Worcester Spy. 

" ' Forging His Chains ' is a book that has been compared with Dumas's 

famous 'Monte Christo.' The extraordinary character of its adventures, 

indeed, would render it dramatic and powerful as fiction; as human truth, it 

simply overwhelming. No one can read this book unmoved. From every 

-nceivable standpoint,- psychological, sociological, and literary, it is a 

uarvel." 

Hartford Daily Times. 
" This autobiography is a story of thrilling interest." 

New York Mail and Express. 

" His book is one of the most interesting that has ever been published." 

Roston Herald. 

■" A very remarkable book of thrilling interest." 

New York World. 

" ' Forging His Chains ' is a powerful autobiography." 

Roston Globe. 

"Mr. Bidwell gives the story of a career which can probably not be 
equaled." 

New York Herald. 
" This is a remarkable book." 

Inter- Ocean, Chicago. 

"'Forging His Chains ' is a remarkable narrative, told by the principal 
actor in some of the most stupendous forgeries of the century." 

Neiv York Tribune. 
"Mr. George Bidwell: Dear Sir, — A review of your interesting book 
is in type, and will be used soon. Yours truly, Ed. Tribune." 



TESTIMONIALS AS TO ITS MORAL TONE. 

Dr. Edward Beecher 

writes: " This book is written as a warning against yielding to temptations to* 
crime, by showing its results in degradation and misery. It is designed 
especially as a warning to young men. For the sake of securing this result I 
recommend it to the friends of morality." 

A Niece of Oliver Wendell Holmes 

writes: "Few books have so stirred my mind for years as the book ' Forging His 
Chains,' by George Bid well. Hearing of the book, prejudice immediately 
seized me against it. The history of a criminal, given by himself, to be inte > 
esting at all must be sensational, therefore disastrous to morals. So avowed 
prejudiced thought ; and, determined to find fault, 1 began this remarkable history. 
It is impossible to find fault with the book, which is valuable and> 
wonderfully absorbing." 

Office of Street' 's Insurance Agency, Hartford, Conn. 

"Mr. George Bidwell : Dear Sir, — Some three months since, I had 
consultation with a clergyman regarding his son, who had fallen into bad asso- 
ciations and taken part in several burglaries, beside many small thefts, and 
seemed hardened against shame or dread of exposure. I had read your book, 
' Forging His Chains,' and wrote the father as to its use in his family, at the 
same time securing him a copy. The boy has opened his eyes, being fully 
alive to the danger he has been in for a number of years, and is now support- 
ing himself honorably. . I believe the mean, dangerous boy has become a man 
by reading your book. Yours very truly, F. F. Street." 

The Rev. Thos. E. Souper, 
Chaplain of the Hudson County (N. J.) Penitentiary. 

*' I have been a diligent reader of everything, ' ancient and modern,' but I 
have seldom met with anything that could compare with this autobiography. 
My estimate of this book is that it is a work of real and rare interest. But for 
its size, I would recommend the book to all our Sunday-schools. Indeed, I 
can and do earnestly commend the book to every family and household." 

EinJcerton's National Detective Agency. 

" I have read with interest 'Forging His Chains.' I believe it would pay 
every one to read this work. To any one who may harbor a desire to get 
money quickly, regardless of the method, 'Forging His Chains' is a lesson 
teaching that no matter how shrewd the operators or what good 'fortune fol- 
lows them, the end is disgrace to themselves and to all they hold most dear. 
I venture to say that no person will commence to read the book without com- 
pleting it. I am yours truly, Robert A. Pinkerton." 



JH^ See back cover. 



INTEODUCTIOIsr. 



DURING- the past twenty years, hundreds of columns 
have been published in the newspapers throughout 
the world regarding myself and my transactions. Having 
been so freely commented upon by press and public, while it 
was beyond my power to reply, now that I am again free I 
feel it incumbent on me to publish the true story of the alleged 
£1,000,000 affair on the Bank of England in 1873, and expose 
the weak spot in their system. 

It is now a matter of history ; and as I have been regarded 
the principal character in that transaction, I feel sure that no 
one will question my ability to relate the history of this 
among the other events of my life. The truth herein told is 
stranger than fiction, and history may well be challenged to 
produce another life into which has come so many varied and 
bewildering events, or to disclose another character, trained 
in a religious home, having culture and an unusual business 
talent, free from all bad habits and the minor vices, whose 
deflection from the path of virtue into "crooked ways," has 
stirred to its very depths the entire civilized world, causing a 
Rothschild to tremble and the knees of money kings to quake 
with fear. 



[Copyright, 1891, by George Bidwell. All rights reserved.] 



AT HOME, East Hartford, Conn. 

For the benefit of any careless reader who may fail to observe the 
warnings in my book, and who may fancy that he can make a fortune, or 
the beginning of one, by imitating the methods described in "Forging 
His Chains," I wish to say: — 

1st. Read my book carefully and ponder the fate of men as clever as 
yourself, 

2d. If you still fancy you can commit a fraud and escape, it only 
proves that you have not the sense and judgment to carry out a crime suc- 
cessfully. Therefore, your first step would be into the hands of the police. 

3d. The merchandise-swindling operations have become so well 
known that even the postmasters and freight agents would unfailingly put 
the police on you at once. Hundreds of men in both England and America 
are to-day in State prisons for attempts of the kind. 

4th. In regard to letter of credit, check, and other frauds on bankers, 
those men named in chapter have completely played out that game 

and themselves. The whole time I was in prison they, and others used as 
tools, have, until arrested and imprisoned, worked both sides of the Atlan- 
tic until now the few who are free are longing for an opening into an hon- 
est business, recognizing that any fraudulent attempt will surely land them 
in prison. I know two men who have squandered hundreds of thousands 
of dollars who have for months past been put to great straits to obtain food, 
not daring to try on the old games which you possibly fancy you could 
execute successfully. 

5th. If (after reading my book and this note) you still cannot see 
that it is best to get on honestly — even if slow — then try it on, and when 
you are where I have seen so many thousands of like mind with yourself, 
you will have ample time — as they and I had — for retrospections and 
reflections. 

If any young man will be advised, let him not squander the leisure 
time of his young manhood about the bars and billiard rooms, but like our 
physically Great Anglo Saxon progenitors, consider the first twenty -five 
years of life as a preparatory period. Until you are twenty-five think only 
of two things — how you may improve yourself physically and mentally. 
Then you will be ready to take advantage of opportunities that come to 
everyone to engage in a legitimate life-work, and at thirty-five years of age 
will be far ahead, in wealth and social position, of those who think they 
must put on full steam at eighteen or twenty, and think only of momentary 
pleasures, which are quite right in their proper place, as part of a mental 
and physical training. Your sincere well-wisher, 



c7^r>-^^ /^C^&£c^^£S 



Chapter I 



A BANK OF ENGLAND DEPOSITOR. 

£S OON after our arrival in London, Mac received an invita- 
(^ tion to visit some relatives in the north of Ireland, with 
whom he was in correspondence, and invited Austin to ac- 
company him, I being absent from London for three days. 
They were to start immediately, but Austin had £ 2,000 of my 
money in his pocket in bank-notes. Not liking to risk taking 
them along on the journey, it became a question as to how to 
dispose of them until his return from Ireland. Finally it 
occurred to him that on the way to the railway station he 
could call in and deposit it with his tailor, Mr. Edward Ham- 
ilton Green, of No. 35 Saville Row, he having an appointment 
to call there to try on a new suit of clothes that morning. 

After my arrival in England, it was not long before I had 
occasion to offer in payment a X5 Bank of England note. 
The dealer handed it back, and asked me to put my name 
and address on the back of the note. "But," I replied, " this 
note is payable to ' bearer,' and requires no endorsement." 
However, the dealer insisted that he could not accept it unless 
I should endorse it. As such was not the custom in my own 
country, it looked to me like a piece of tom-foolerv to require 

(3) 



4 TOM-FOOLERY AND " TOM NOODLE." 

that notes payable to the bearer should be endorsed. Sud- 
denly I seized a pen and scribbled. on "Tom Noodle, Thames 
Embankment," or some other absurdity, and this was quite 
satisfactory to the shop-keeper. Occasionally, even when 
paying cash for an article in gold or silver, the shopman 
would ask for my name and address, with a result similar to 
the above. At the trial in the following year, the prosecution 
desiring to overwhelm us with quantity to make up for the 
lack of quality and exactitude of evidence, brought forward 
every shop-keeper to be found, from whom any of us had 
made purchases, in order to produce a worse impression by 
the number of aliases ; and this sort of thing was carried so 
far that several witnesses made mistakes in identification, etc. 

Austin's acquaintance with Mr. Green began in this wise : 
Soon after his arrival in England, on the 18th day of April, 
1872, he was sauntering along Saville Row, taking a general 
view of high life at the " West End," when his eye lighted on 
some cloth in a shop-window. He entered the place and 
found himself in the presence of Mr. Green. He ordered and 
paid for a suit, through some freak giving the name of F. A. 
Warren, No. 21 Enfield Road, where I was lodging. Now 
there is nothing more certain than that when this occurred 
there was no intention of using Mr. Green for any purpose 
beyond his legitimate business ; yet the prosecution brought 
this circumstance in as a link in the alleged long-prepared 
scheme of fraud. 

The 4th of May following, on the way to the railway 
station, according to the plan mentioned at the beginning of 
this chapter, they had the cab stop at Mr. Green's. After 
trying on the clothes, Austin asked him to keep £1,200 until 
his return from Ireland. " Austin said he had more 

money than he thought it prudent to leave at his lodgings, 
and that it was about .£2,000. I did not like to keep so large 
a sum, and recommended him to deposit it in some bank ; 
adding that my bankers were close at hand. Austin 
then accompanied me to the Western Branch of the Bank of 



A DEPOSIT AT THE WESTERN BRANCH. 



5 



England, where I kept an account, and I introduced him to 
the assistant manager, Mr. Fenwick." The foregoing are 
Mr. Green's own words at the trial, and he had "forgotten" 
a good deal which would have shown Austin's disinclination 
to leave the money elsewhere, giving as the reason that he 
•should return from Ireland in a few days ; but behind this 
was the consciousness that he was known to Mr. Green as 
Warren, and in case of an introduction to the bank it must 
necessarily be in that name. 




WESTERN BRANCH. 

Upon being introduced to Mr. Fenwick, Warren (as I 
#hall call Austin in this connection) asked Mr. Fenwick to 
give him a simple receipt for the XI, 200, which was the sum 
he wished to leave. Mr. Fenwick advised him to leave his 
.signature and take a check-book, remarking that he would 
find it very convenient to be enabled to check for money 
"wherever he happened to be. Warren declined accepting the 



THE "WARREN" BANK ACCOUNT. 

offer, on the ground that he had no use at that time for a 
bank account, and repeating that he should want the money 
on his return from Ireland. This was quite true, as I had 
already matured my plans to go to Rio Janeiro, not havinp 
the remotest idea of any opening in England for a " specula- 
tion." Mr. Fenwick gave further reasons why it would be 
better to open account with the money than to leave it other- 
wise, and finally, as McDonald was waiting, he acceded to the 
proposition, and started for Ireland with him. 

I had no knowledge of all this until their return, three 
or four days later, and I was greatly surprised when I was* 
told about the Warren account with the Bank of England. 
Indeed, when it was first alluded to I paid no attention,, 
thinking, as I had a good right to do, that they were endeav- 
oring to " take a rise " out of me. Not till the balik and 
check books were produced did I give their incredible story 
any credit. Austin asserted that when going to the bank 
with Mr. Green, he had no idea that it was to the Bank of 
England. At all events, after the matter had been communi- 
cated to me and duly considered, I could not perceive any 
benefit to be derived from a continuance of the account in a 
false name, and as before said, I had decided to go to Rio 
Janeiro, expecting to* make use of my capital there, and then 
go home without returning to England. For this reason, I 
directed " Warren " to withdraw the money and close the 
account. 

Within a week of his return from Ireland he called at the 
bank for that purpose. Now mark what passed. It is a rule 
of the bank of England that every depositor must keep a bal- 
ance of at least three hundred pounds. Warren informed the 
manager of his intention to close the account as he was intend- 
ing to leave England. Upon hearing this the same arguments 
that were used to induce him to open the account were again 
brought forward to show him the advantages which would 
arise in case the account was continued. Warren said that he 
expected to employ all his money and could not leave the bal- 



OFFICIAL LOOSENESS. 9 

ance required in order to keep the account open. After many 
pros and cons he concluded to leave the odd money — & bal- 
ance of thirty-nine pounds — at the same time assuring the 
manager that there was no probability of his having any occa- 
sion to make use of the account. A week later I sailed from 
Liverpool on board -the Steamship Lucitania for Rio Janeiro, 
expecting to go. around the coast of South America to San 
Francisco, and thence by rail to New York, and the bank of 
England account lay forgotten until the defeat of my South 
American plan and return to Europe the first of September 
following. 

At the trial the prosecution slurred over this and every 
other fact which would tend to show that the " Great Bank 
Forgery" was not a long planned scheme. Also, in pursu- 
ance of their theory, which they considered absolutely neces- 
sary to establish in order to clear the bank-managers from the 
charge of looseness in conducting business, the witnesses from 
ihe bank at the trial, on being pressed on these points, had 
*" forgotten " or could only say to " the best of their belief," 
and so on. By bringing to bear their more than imperial 
power, unbounded influence, and the expenditure of 1350,000, 
they succeeded in " proving " that we had been working and 
preparing the scheme during more than a year before the 
possibility of such a fraud had ever entered our heads. The 
success of the prosecution on that point was one of the chief 
causes which got us life sentences, instead of the ten years or 
less, usual in cases of forgery. It may be that I deserved 
even so severe a sentence as that, but surely some of the others 
— well, I refrain, leaving the reader to judge for himself. 

To sum up the matter : The bank-books will corroborate 
my statement regarding the small balance lying a long time 
without additional deposits. The eagerness shown to have 
" Warren " open the account in the first instance, and the break- 
ing of a bank of England rule in permitting the account to 
remain open with one-eighth of the required balance — no busi- 
ness being transacted during three months or more — at the 



10 



A GOOD SHOWING. 



time filled me with Surprise, and I can now account for it 
only on the supposition that the Western Branch had not been 
long established, and that the manager, or his representative,, 
wished to increase the business as much as possible in order 
to make a good showing at the head office. 




BANK OF ENGLAND SCENE. VISITOR HOLDING £1,000,000 ($5,000,000) 

BANK OF ENGLAND NOTES. 



Chapter II. 



BORDEAUX, MARSEILLES, AND LYONS "DONATE" $50,000— A BAD QUARTER OB 
AN HOUR — EGGS AND PEASANT WOMEN —" SWEETS TO THE SWEET" — A 
MYSTERIOUS STRANGER DISAPPEARS AMONG THE TOMBS — REUNION IN LONDON 
— COWARDICE OR "PRUDENCE" OF GEORGE ENGLES. 

BEFORE leaving New York, Engles had come into pos- 
session of several letters of credit issued by the Bank 
of North Wales, Liverpool, which had been picked from the 
pocket of an English traveler while getting on a train in 
Jersey City. These the thief had discovered were worthless 
to him, and as there are threads of intercommunication run- 
ning through all the different classes of criminals, it was 
surmised that though the papers were valueless to an ordinary 
thief, the opposite might be the case with a forger. We pro- 
ceeded to make use of them in the subsequent fraudulent 
operations by which French bankers were victimized. I 
purchased a circular letter of credit from the London and 
Westminster Bank, one of the largest banking institutions at 
that time in Great Britain, the Bank of England excepted, 
and about the only one which did not require any reference 
regarding the above purchase. I next procured lithographed 
letter heads which were facsimiles of those in use at the 
London and Westminster Bank. In the letter of credit was 
a list of the bank's correspondents throughout the world, so 
that the traveler might get the notes which were attached to 
Ms letter turned into the currency of whatever country he 
happened to be in. On the lithographed letter-sheets men- 
tioned above were written letters of introduction addressed 
(say) Messrs. Smith & Co., Bordeaux ; Brune & Co., Mar- 
seilles ; Blank & Co., Lyons ; all reading as follows : * 



12 A TRIP TO FRANCE. 

[Printed letter heading. 1 

London and Westminster Bank,. 
London, March 22, 1872. 
Messes. Smith & Co., Bordeaux, France: 

Gentlemen, — A valued customer of ours, Mr. Thomas Hooker^ 
is about to visit your city. Mr. Hooker holds our circular letter of 
credit, also special letters of credit issued by the Bank of North 
"Wales. We shall take pleasure in honoring any drafts which he 
may have occasion to draw against these Whatever you may find 
it convenient to do in forwarding his business affairs, or contributing 
to his enjoyment, will, as occasion offers, be cordially reciprocated. 
I remain, gentlemen, very sincerely, 

(say) Lewis Smith, 
Manager London and Westminster Bank.. 

I have forgotten the names given, and make use of any 
others by way of illustration. These letters were mailed in 
London, envelopes sealed with wax, and stamped in exact 
imitation of those sent out by the bank. The day they were 
mailed I went alone to France, having in my possession the 
genuine circular letter of credit with notes attached, issued 
by the London and Westminster Bank, and three false letters 
of credit purporting to be issued by the North Wales Bank, 
for about three thousand pounds each. All these documents- 
had been written by George Engles. 

Crossing the channel from Dover to Calais, the small, 
black, side-wheel steamer — a pitching, rollicking, little mon- 
ster — seemed to enjoy all the discomforts of the passengers 
aboard. In due time I arrived at Paris, and without delay 
took the train for Bordeaux. 

Before leaving London, letters were posted to Thomas 
Hooker, in care of the firms I intended to victimize in the 
three cities named. Therefore, on arriving at Bordeaux, I 
called on Smith & Co., and inquired if there were letters for 
me. They at once gave me the one mailed to myself, which 
had come in the same mail with one for their firm purporting 
to be from the London and Westminster Bank. The receipt of 

Note — This, and other similar matters, is published as a warning to 
business men to verify all letters of introduction presented by strangers, 
where money is involved. 



"MB. HOOKER" WELL RECEIVED. lg 

my letter satisfied me that Smith & Co. had received theirs, 
which must naturally place me very high in their estimation. 
During my criminal career I never could avoid experiencing 
a certain qualm, when taking advantage of the confidence 
placed in me by gentlemen who received me courteously 
and with marked attention. But the thirst for riches, once 
implanted, will lead any man to unthought-of depths of 
infamy. As soon as these gentlemen were aware that I was 
" Mr. Hooker," they lavished every attention upon me — 
invited me to dinner, and a drive thrcfugh the city afterward. 
I thanked them, and explained that I was obliged to decline,, 
as my agent was waiting for me at Bayonne, where I had 
purchased some real estate ; and having been recommended 
to their firm, I should feel obliged if they would cash my 
draft for two thousand pounds, and endorse it on my letter of 
credit (handing over one on the North Wales Bank). Mr. 
Smith replied that it was the custom of the French bankers 
to require twenty-four hours' notice before drawing a check, 
and asked me if the next day would not answer. " We shall 
be happy to assist you," said he, " in passing the time pleas- 
antly." This was a new custom to me, but I answered 
instantly, expressing regret that the nature of my business 
precluded delay, it being necessary that I , should reach 
Bayonne that night. " I suppose," continued I, " that your 
bankers will not mind your checking out a small sum without 
the usual notice. However, if it occasions any embarrass- 
ment or inconvenience, I can easily procure the money else- 
where." One of the partners replied that their bank would 
without doubt honor their check, and the matter should be 
attended to at once. I sat down for a half hour, conversing 
on a variety of topics. Of course this was a most trying- 
period to me ; the least show of haste or anxiety might 
have betrayed me to those lynx-eyed, experienced men of 
business. In the midst of our conversation, an undercurrent 
of thought kept running through my mind, thus : " Who 
knows but they have sent a dispatch to the London and 



14 IN MARSEILLES. 

Westminster Bank, merely as a matter of business precau- 
tion, and that they are delaying me to get a reply ? In that 
case, I shall have a good opportunity to learn the pure French 
accent, while passing my days in the Bagnio at Toulon." 
At last, however, the amount was paid over to me in French 
bank-notes. I deliberately counted them, and took leave, 
lighter in mind, and heavier in purse by fifty thousand 
francs. 

I had arranged with Engles (whose merits for a criminal 
calling in the way of cowardice were described in a former 
book ) to go every morning to the Queen's Hotel, London, 
for letters which I should send addressed to " H. Cowper." 

After receiving the money, I enclosed it in a large envel- 
ope, addressing it to Cowper, London. I also wrote on the 
envelope: "Echantillions du papier" (i. e., samples of paper), 
after which I posted it at the post-office. 

As I wished to reduce the risk as much as possible (the 
train for Marseilles not leaving for three hours), I took a 
carriage and told the driver to carry me towards the next 
station on the route to that city. After we were fairly out in 
the country, I got outside and sat with the driver, discoursing 
with him about the country We were driving through, arriving 
in the village about half an hour before the train from Bor- 
deaux was due.- I dismissed my driver at a small village 
cabaret or tavern, walked to the station, got aboard the train, 
and early the next morning was in Marseilles. I breakfasted 
at the Hotel d' Europe, and looked over the papers to see if 
the Bordeaux fraud had been discovered. As I could see no 
indication of it, about 10 a. m. I took a carriage and went to 
call on Messrs. Brune & Co. 

Here, as before, I found a letter for Mr. Hooker, which 
assured me that they had received the bogus one addressed to 
themselves, consequently every thing looked clear for the 
fresh fraud contemplated. 

On making myself known I was, as usual, received with 
the utmost courtesy, began to talk business, and one of the 



TERRORS OF A GUILTY CONSCIENCE. 15 

firm got into my carriage and rode with me to his bank to 
effect the sale of my draft on London for the sum of £ 2,500. 
Arriving at the bank I took a seat in the front office, while Mr. 
Brune went into the manager's room to introduce the transac- 
tion ; the clerks eyed me as I thought suspiciously, but doubt- 
less only curiously, because they perceived I was a foreigner. 
Another thing which I noticed sent a shiver through t me. 
After Mr. Brune had been a few minutes in the manager's 
room, the bank porter stepped to the outer door, closed and 
locked it. It being but 12 o'clock, I imagined the precau- 
tionary measure must be due to my presence. "The Bor- 
deaux affair is discovered and has been telegraphed all over 
France," was my first thought ; "all is over with me. I am a 
candidate for a French prison, sure. My poor wife ! My poor 
children ! Alas ! what a fool have I been ! " 

These and a thousand other thoughts flashed through my 
mind during the quarter of an hour preceding Mr. Brune's 
reappearance with his hands full of bank-notes. I could 
hardly believe my eyes. I had suppressed all signs of the 
internal hurricane which raged during those prolonged mo- 
ments of suspense. 

Now the revulsion of feeling was so great that I nearly 
fainted. However, by prodigious mental effort, I recovered 
my self-possession and effectually masked all inward con- 
vulsions. 

Mr. Brune placed in my hands sixty-two thousand francs, 
in notes of the Bank of France, and we then descended to the 
carriage and drove to my hotel, where, after mutual express- 
ions of esteem, I, a base swindler, separated forever from a 
victimized and honest man. I paid my bill at the hotel and 
at once made preparations to start for Lyons, which was to 
be the next and last scene of my operations in France. 

As my train did not leave for three hours, I got into a 
carriage at some distance from the hotel and was driven 
towards the next station, located on the beautiful bay a few 
miles from Marseilles. 



16 A DISPATCH TO LYONS. 

After driving along the shore of the bay for some miles I 
remember we met two women, dressed in the quaint costume 
common to that part of the country, each carrying a basket 
of eggs. I stopped the carriage and endeavored to enter into 
conversation with the pair, but could not understand a word of 
their patois. I then took a couple of eggs, handed out a silver 
franc piece, and drove on, leaving two astonished women 
standing in the road, gazing alternately at the piece of money 
and at the back of my carriage. Arriving at the station I 
found it would be an hour and a half to train time, and driv- 
ing to a hotel on the shore, I ordered dinner to be served in 
the upper room of a two story tower overlooking the bay, with 
Marseilles in the distance. After dining I strolled along the 
beach, looking at some queer fish, not found north of the 
Mediterranean, their colors vying in brilliancy with the 
plumage of tropical birds. Returning to the station I took a 
ticket for Lyons, stopping off at Aries about sunset, as I 
wished to see the ampitheatre and other relics of the Roman 
occupation. 

I sent a dispatch to Lyons addressed to myself (Hooker),, 
care of Messrs. Blank & Co., as follows: . 

"T. Hooker: Bring sixty thousand francs to Aries at once, as 
I have completed the purchase. C. E. Hooker. 

It will be seen what use I made of this dispatch. I re- 
mained in Aries till midnight, then took the train arriving in 
Lyons at nine the next morning. Repairing to the Hotel-de- 
Lyons I had breakfast, and on looking over the papers^ 
became satisfied that as yet no discovery had been made. 
Therefore I resolved to carry out my third and last financial 
enterprise, and then return to London with all speed. 

I called a carriage and drove at once to the establishment 
of Messrs. Blank & Co. Here I found a letter from London 
and the dispatch from Aries. I sat near the desk convers- 
ing with the head of the firm as these were handed me. I 
opened the letter and found nothing but a blank sheet of 



BACK TO PARIS. 17 

paper, having forgotten that one of them had thus been sent. 
I saw the merchant's eye on it, and remarked in an explana- 
tory way, " I see, it is written with sympathetic ink," and put 
it in my pocket. I then opened the dispatch sent from Aries, 
and after reading, handed it to him saying : " I see that I 
shall have use for sixty thousand francs, and must ask you to 
cash a draft on my letter of credit for that amount." He 
immediately stepped to the safe, took out a bundle of one 
thousand franc notes, and counting out sixty gave them to me, 
I, of course, signing a draft on the London and Westminster 
bank, and having the amount endorsed on my forged letter of 
credit. 

As it was almost certain that the Bordeaux fraud would 
soon be discovered, I determined, now that my dishonor- 
able work was completed, to attempt an immediate escape 
from France, by way of Paris and Calais. I did not, there- 
fore, take the train direct from Lyons to Paris, but engaged 
a carriage and drove back to a junction toward Marseilles. 
Here I took a train which intersects farther to the northward 
with another road leading through Lyons to Paris. After 
going the roundabout route above described, I was back at 
the Lyons station at 9 P. M., in a train bound for Paris, where 
I arrived without further incident. 

The next morning (Sunday) as I left the railway station, 
I thought detectives were watching me, but in all probability 
it was only the imagination of a guilty conscience. I was then 
wearing a full beard, and as a precautionary measure I that 
morning had all shaved off save the mustache. Not daring 
to leave Paris on the through express, which started at three 
o'clock P. M., nor to purchase a ticket to either Calais or Lon- 
don direct, I went to the station, and took the noon accommo- 
dation train which went no farther toward Calais than Arras, 
a town some thirty miles from Paris. I arrived there about 
one p. m. 

As it would be about three hours before the express train 
was due I went to a small hotel and ordered dinner. To while 



18 "MERC I, MONSIEUR!" 

away the time I took a stroll through the main street, where 
were many mothers and nurses with children, nice black-eyed 
French babies. As I was always a devoted lover of children 
and other small creatures, I stepped into a shop and bought a 
package of confectionary, which I distributed among the little 
ones and their smiling nurses, receiving therefor, almost invari- 
ably, the grateful exclamation, " Merci, Monsieur ! " I gave 
some to children eight and ten years old, a crowd of whom 
soon gathered about me. Perceiving that I was attracting too 
much attention, it was clear that I must get rid of my young 
friends as soon as possible, or the police would also be 
attracted, and their presence might lead to unpleasant results 
in case the frauds had been discovered and enquiry was being 
made for an " Englishman." Purchasing a second supply of 
candies I hastily gave them out, and with a " Mestez ici mes 
enfants" I passed through them and continued my walk up 
the street. Quite a number followed at a respectful distance, 
and I was cogitating how to double on them when I came to 
the gateway of the town cemetery, through which I hastily 
entered. The children remained outside and watched me as 
I walked up the slope and disappeared. At the rear of the 
cemetery I observed an old man at work in the adjoining 
field. I climbed upon the stone wall, which instantly crum- 
bled away, and I was landed on the old Frenchman's domain 
without leave, amidst a pile of stones. Startled by the racket, 
he looked up from his digging, and, seeing a stranger uprising 
from the ruins of the fence, began consigning him to " le dia- 
ble" with a volley of vigorous French expletives delivered in 
peasant patois. I listened to him much amused for a moment, 
and then held up a five franc piece. As soon as he beheld it 
a wondrous change came over him. He eagerly seized the 
silver and straightway showed me to a lane which led almost 
directly to the railway station. I purchased a ticket for 
Calais and took the Sunday afternoon express, arriving in 
London the next morning, after an absence of but four days. 
The money procured in Lyons I had with me, but the one 



ENGLES' PUSILLANIMITY 



19 



hundred thousand francs sent by mail without registry I was 
uneasy about. I therefore hastened to find my companions to 
ascertain if the letters had been received at the Queen's hotel. 
Engles had been left in London to secure the money-letters 
at the hotel as fast as they should arrive. But he had been 
afraid to go there and inquire for them, and when I reached 
London, I was thunderstruck at his rather too extreme cau- 
tion. I immediately took a valuable hand-bag filled with 
linen, etc., went direct to the hotel, registered the name to 
which I had addressed the letters, asked if there were any 
letters for me, and they were all handed over forthwith. I 
had the lady clerk assign me a room, and left my bag. I then 
walked leisurely away, and have never been back for the bag 
to this day. The principal reason for leaving Engles in Lon- 
don was to give him an unobstructed opportunity to exchange 
the foreign bank-notes into English gold before my first 
bogus draft should arrive, for as soon as the, detectives were 
put on the fraud, they would go at once to all the London 
Exchanges and broker's offices to watch for any one who 
offered large sums in French notes. Owing to his pusillanim- 
ity I had been obliged, after returning from my trip to France, 
to undergo the additional hazard of calling at the Queen's 
hotel. Engles having thus failed to act his part, we were 
encumbered with a large amount of French paper and a bag 
of foreign gold which could not be offered safely for exchange 
in London. I therefore decided that Engles should go to 
Paris, accompanied by one who had played no part in the 
fraud, as an assistant, leaving myself, the guiltier one, safe in 
London. They accordingly left at once, Engles taking the 
bag of gold, and his companion the notes. The latter after- 
wards informed me that, during the whole journey from Lon- 
don to Paris, Engles sat with the bag of gold under his coat, 
ready in case of any imagined emergency to throw it out of 
the window or overboard while crossing the channel. After 
their arrival in Paris the assistant was obliged to clo the whole 
business, not only of selling the gold but also the notes. 



20 A "BRILLIANT" OPERATION ENDED. 

While he was in different brokers' offices — for he did not dare 
to offer a large amount in one place — Engles stood at a dis- 
tance, ready to run away at the slightest indication of danger. 
However, they arrived safely back in London witli the proceeds 
of my three days' nefarious work in France. 

And thus ended — viewed from the forger's standpoint — 
perhaps as brilliant a "solo" operation as has been recorded 
in the annal of crime. 

Surely this chapter ought to cause business men to act very 
cautiously in dealings with strangers, even when they come 
provided with introductory letters. When credit, money, 
endorsements, or identification at a bank or other business 
house are asked on such letters, quietly step to the telephone 
or telegraph and verify them. This plan has become of com- 
mon usage among knaves. Do not expect to see villainy 
depicted in the faces of this class of business men — for such 
they regard themselves, having been usually brought up as 
such. * 




Chapter III. 



*'THE TERROR OF WALL STREET" RETURNS TO NEW YORK — TAKES PARTIES OF 
FORGERS TO ENGLAND AND THE CONTINENT — HE IS ARRESTED — FRUITLESS 
EXAMPLES — STARTS A FARO BANK — FIGHTS STRANGE " TIGERS " — HIS PRE- 
MATURE DEATH IN 1886 — VOYAGE TO RIO JANEIRO — THE LADY OF THE LUC I- 
TANIA — A SWEDISH COLONEL'S PARTY OF ENGLISH ENGINEERS — A BIBULOUS 
CHAPLAIN — $50,000 ON BOGUS LETTERS OF CREDIT— MR. SOLOMONS — AN 
ANXIOUS TIME — MUNSON IN A " FIX " — STRATEGIC MOVEMENTS TO EXTRICATE 
HIM. 

ENGLES remained in London about a week, preparing 
forged papers for me to use on the trip to South 
America, which was already decided upon, and then took 
steamer for New York from Liverpool. On the same day I 
sailed for Rio Janeiro, accompanied by one known in this 
adventure as Munson. Since my return from England I have 
heard some particulars of Engles' life and death since we 
parted in Liverpool. 

In 1879 Engles sent a party to England who took over 
drafts forged by him with which they procured 140,000 from 
■Seligman & Co., bankers, London. Our party were sentenced 
for life, as a warning that Engles and Wilkes should not 
attempt their operations in England. But I have ascertained 
that during the time I was in prison, not a year elapsed that 
one or the other did not either go over or send a gang with 
forged paper, prepared by them in New York. 

In 1880, in company with Wilkes, Hamilton, and Burns, 
Engles went to Italy, where all but himself were arrested. 
Burns killing himself while in prison. 

Hamilton and he were chained to the wall on opposite 
sides of the room. Wilkes' confession plunged Burns into a 



22 KILLED BY A PRAYER-BOOK. 

state of desperation. He seized upon a prayer-book, lay down,, 
and bending the covers back he placed two corners each side 
of his wind-pipe and pressed so hard that he choked to* 
death. 

Hamilton from his side of the room gazed upon this fear- 
ful scene, at first too horror-stricken to act, then began, 
screaming and shouting madly for assistance, but none of the 
Italian jailers were aroused by his frantic efforts until after 
his friend had accomplished his purpose. 

And we were incarcerated for life as a warning to prevent 
forgers from coming into Europe ! I think that I have 
remarked elsewhere that the imprisonment of one person sel- 
dom has any" warning" effect upon others, because no person 
takes part in a crime committed to obtain . money, unless he 
feels sure that his arrangements are such as to' secure his 
escape — despite all examples to the contrary, each one 
believes himself the one who will not be caught. 

As stated, Engles escaped from Italy and was arrested, 
but for want of proof the extradition case against him failed,, 
and United States Commissioner Osborne discharged him 
from custody. He had, however, lain in the Ludlow Street 
jail over twelve months, during which time the case against 
him was in progress. In 1884 he made up another party,, 
going to England himself, and obtained a large sum on forged 
paper. 

On every occasion some of the men were arrested and 
imprisoned' for presenting the forged paper. While in prison,. 
at different times, I had word sent to me by prisoners that 
they were in for presenting forged paper, and that they had 
come to England with Engles. Two of them were Hebrews- 
of respectable birth,* natives of Poland, who had lived in New 
York for several years. When arrested they were sharp 
enough not to let it transpire that they were from America,. 
in consequence of which they got off with five years' penal 
servitude, instead of the fifteen, or life sentences, which would 
have been given them had it been known that Engles had 
brought them to England. 



ONE "TIGER" INSUFFICIENT. 23 

In the relation of Engles' European operations, I have some- 
what anticipated my story, and will resume it with his arrival 
in New York in 1872, and his establishment of a faro bank in 
that city. His peculiar reputation among the " crooks " of 
America brought to his place many people ambitious to fight 
the "tiger." He would soon have become a second John 
Morrissey, had he only been able to restrain his own pro- 
pensity for drink and gaming ; but these habits had now 
become so firmly fixed that he was no longer master of him- 
self. He had a great many " ropers-in " — those who lounge 
about the hotels, make acquaintance with merchants and 
other visitors from the country, and entice them into gam- 
bling-houses and other dens. A "roper-in" is a well-dressed, 
plausible-speaking man, one who has the faculty of conveying 
to strangers the idea that he is one of themselves ; and is 
paid one-half of all the money he can, " by hook or by crook," 
induce his dupe to disburse at the various dens visited. Such 
gaming-houses as the one in question pay these pimps, one- 
half of all the money " won " from their proteges, they acting 
as mentors and advisers to their confiding dupes. In conse- 
quence of this mutually profitable arrangement, Engles gained 
a great deal in the way of "winnings" at his own faro 
bank, but soon tired of playing, in effect, against himself , 
for whether losing or winning, there was no risk of ultimate 
loss. Therefore, he could feel none of that peculiar excite- 
ment, kept at fever heat, which had become necessary, and 
which he had experienced while throwing his ill-gotten 
gold lavishly into the jaws of some other gambler's " tiger," 
especially those , at that time on exhibition at the splendid 
establishments of the " Honorable " John Morrissey in New 
York, and at Saratoga during the fashionable season. At 
these were lost most of the large sums procured by the ex- 
tensive gold forgeries in Wall Street and elsewhere. Engles 
was the only gambler with whom I ever had anything to do, 
as I considered it especially dangerous to do any " crooked " 
business with the assistance of either gamesters or drunkards. 



24 IN " THE BAY OF BISCAY, 0." 

It was now the same as it had been with the large sums 
obtained by forgery, for all the booty raked in at his own 
establishment was immediately staked and lost elsewhere, 
regardless of the claims of an affectionate wife and children. 
His taste for brandy had so grown upon him that he required, 
more and more, the stimulus afforded by that potent fluid, and 
was constantly under its influence. His originally strong 
constitution succumbed at last to the long-continued strain, 
and he died miserably, after a year's sickness, in 1886, leav- 
ing his family impoverished. His wife is carrying on a small 
business near New York, and endeavoring to bring up her 
children to become respectable members of society. 

The reader's attention is now directed to the steamship 
Jjucitania, of the Pacific Mail Line, ploughing the waters of 
the rough " Bay of Biscay, 0." While she is rapidly approach- 
ing the coast of France, I will relate what preparations were 
made in London to carry out the object of our voyage. While 
" Warren " was settling up his account, though leaving a 
small balance at the Bank of England as previously described, 
Engles had busied himself in completing the forged letters of 
credit that I was to take with me on our voyage. These pur- 
ported to be drawn and issued by the London and West- 
minster Bank. In filling them out he had signed only the 
manager's name, but as I had noticed that in the " circular " 
letters of credit issued by that bank, both that and the sub- 
manager's name were signed, I argued that the same should 
be done in regard to the " special " letters. But Engles 
insisted that one name was sufficient, because, as he stated, he 
had seen several genuine letters of credit of the same descrip- 
tion, which had been issued by the Bank of North Wales, 
Liverpool, with the manager's name only. Nothing could 
induce him to put on both names, although he might have 
done it in a few minutes, and he being an " old head " in the 
business I was reluctantly obliged to give way. As will be 
seen in the sequel, the want of acumen shown in this instance 
by my usually astute confederate, saved the good bankers of 



AN AFFECTIONATE EXHIBITION. 25 

-South America, in all probability, a million of dollars, defeat- 
ing my project at the outset, and causing us to return to 
England contrary to our wishes or expectations. It may be 
curious to note here, as an instance of how slight a thing may 
change the whole future life of a man, that this decision of 
Engies not to spend five minutes in putting on another name, 
led to the discovery of the plan to make use of the Bank of 
England account, and all that followed. And this, besides 
the narrow escape (about to be recounted) from passing our 
lives on the island of Fernando da Noronha, which lies in the 
Atlantic about three hundred miles off the coast of Brazil. 
On this island is located the one great convict establishment 
to which are transported the convicts of the Brazilian Empire. 
Both on the voyage and return the steamer passed within 
sight of it, and on each occasion the view excited within me 
very curious feelings — in going, the thought that, despite my 
precautions, we might find the end of our journey there — and in 
returning, the thought of our narrow escape from being there 
instead of on board the steamer in the enjoyment of all 
luxuries. 

To resume — the good steamship Lucitania rapidly neared 
the mouth of the Garonne, or Gironde, on an estuary of 
which is situated the old city of Bordeaux. Arriving there, 
she lay at anchor for some hours, taking in and discharging 
freight, and receiving emigrants for various parts of South 
America. When the steamer was about to leave, it was a 
strange and rather comical sight to witness the farewells and 
leave-takings from the crowds of friends who had come to see 
them off. The customary performance appeared to me so 
peculiar that I will describe it as well as I can after so many 
years : Two men standing face to face, one clasps the other 
round the body, the other passive, then leaning back lifts the 
party clear off the ground once, twice, or thrice, probably 
according to the degree of relationship or amount of affection ; 
then the operation is reversed, the embraced becoming the 
embracer. In some cases the ceremonial is repeated the sec- 



26 



LIS BOX. 



ond or third time, neither kissing nor crying being the fashion 
there. 

The next morning we were off the coast of Spain watching 
the silvery gleam from the ice-clad peaks of the Pyrenees — at 
least those of us who were not engaged in the more disagree- 
able employment of discharging their debt to Father Neptune. 
However, by the time the ship arrived at the small port of 
Santander the passengers were mostly recovering from the 
mal de mer occasioned by the rough water in the Bay of Bis- 
cay. While leaving this tiny land-locked harbor, one of the 
propeller blades touched the rocky bottom and broke short off r 
but she continued her voyage with undiminished speed, and 
within three days was steaming up the Tagus to Lisbon. 
Here the passengers who wished to avail themselves of the 
opportunity, had a few hours on shore, then we were off for 
the long diagonal run across the Atlantic, unbroken save by a 
call at one of the Canaries. 

" The Lady of the Lucitania" as she was called, because 
there was no other lady among the saloon passengers, was the 
wife of Captain -of the British army, who was going- 
out for a few months' hunting on the pampas of Buenos Ay res , 
and of course accompanied by numerous dogs, with an assort- 
ment of guns. There was also a chaplain in the British 
navy who was going out to join his ship at Yalparaiso. A 
strange character was he ; being a big, burly man, about 28 
years of age, and the most inveterate champagne-drinker on 
board, and that is saying a good deal. Whenever he met any 
of the " jolly " ones of the saloon passengers it was " Come,, 
old fellow, will you toss me for a bottle of phizz ? " as he called 
his favorite wine, and he had no lack of accepters. The 
majority in the saloon consisted of a party of fifteen young 
Englishmen, civil engineers, who were going under the leader- 
ship of a Swedish colonel to survey, for the Brazilian govern- 
ment, a railway line across the southern part of Brazil, from 
the Atlantic to the Pacific. In all there were twenty-five 
young men, full of frolic and fun, who made matters rather 



CROSSING THE "LINES 



27 



lively about the afterpart of the ship. They went in for 
•every thing from which any fun could be extracted. At the 
equinoctial line they roped in the " greenhorns," of whom I 
was one, to look through the field-glasses at the line, and 
having fastened a hair across the field of view, of course we 
■could all see it plainly. Father Neptune came on board, and 
those of the crew who had never crossed the Equator were 
hunted out of their hiding places, dragged on deck, lathered 
with a whitewash brush dipped in old grease, shaved with a 
lath-razor, and then tumbled unceremoniously backward into 
a cask of water. 




THE "SUGAR-LOAF" IN THE BAY OF RIO. 

During the whole voyage I laughed, and increased m 
weight twenty pounds. After a prosperous voyage of three 
weeks we arrived within sight of the famous " Sugar- 
Loaf," and were duly disembarked at the custom-house, 



28 A SQUARE FOOT OF MONEY. 

where I found it indispensable to use a little " palm-grease "" 
in order to get my baggage through that institution without a 
long waiting. The evening succeeding our arrival a banquet 
was given at the Hotel d'Europe, which was attended by 
most of the saloon passengers, including " The Lady of the 
Lucitania." 

The next morning Munson called at a banking-house, pre- 
sented his false letters of introduction, and was well received. 
He immediately commenced business — showed them a letter 
of credit, and making out a bill of exchange, drawn on the 
London and Westminster Bank, he sold it to the banker, and 
drew ten thousand pounds in the currency of the country,, 
leaving the balance on deposit as the nucleus of a bank 
account. I had been waiting outside, and saw him come out 
with the currency — a package a foot square — under his arm. 
At some distance from the bank he gave me the package, and 
I took it at once to an exchange office and purchased English 
sovereigns for the whole amount — about $50,000. On the 
voyage, Munson and myself had acted as strangers to each 
other, and now we stayed at different hotels, being careful 
not to be seen together, meeting in the parks or other 
public places, though in isolated parts of them. Having- 
bogus letters to other bankers in Rio, this first easy success 
satisfied us that we could obtain all the money — say two or 
three hundred thousand dollars — that we should think it 
prudent to ask for in that city. 

After the lapse of two days, Munson again called at the 
same bank and was immediately invited into the manager's 
room and introduced to " Mr. Solomons," a Hebrew, who proved 
to be one of the leading brokers on the Rio Exchange. As 
before, I was waiting outside, and owing to the long time 
Munson was in the bank, I began to feel uneasy, and sur- 
mised that something was going wrong. At last he made 
his appearance, and I saw by his flushed face that he had 
been under a strain. Upon reaching a suitable place, he 
related to me the particulars of the interview. The danger 



MUNSON'S STORY. 29 

we were in no doubt tended to indelibly impress upon my 
memory Munson's ' statement, which was in substance as 
follows : 

"'The manager, after introducing me to Mr. Solomons, 
said that a short time previous a letter had been received 
from the London and Westminster Bank which stated that 
from that date all letters of credit issued by them would be- 
signed both by the manager and sub-manager. He then said 
that the letter on which he had purchased my bill of exchange 
had but one name. The Hebrew broker sat all this time 
with his crafty eyes fixed upon me, as though he would 
read me through, and it required all my nerve to enable 
me to stand the situation without showing signs of uneasi- 
ness. I replied that really I could not say how the omission 
occurred, but I supposed it must have been accidental, and 
then told him I would look at my other letters and see if they 
were the same. Mr. Solomons said it was a very singular 
circumstance that an assistant bank manager should neglect 
to sign a special letter of credit, still he must have done so ;. 
but for his part he should not feel justified in purchasing bills 
on such letters. After some further conversation, the man- 
ager asked me if I had letters to other parties in Rio. ' Cer- 
tainly,' said I; 'I have letters to the English Bank, and to 

Messrs. & Co., both of whom have doubtless had advices 

from their London correspondents regarding me, and I will 
ascertain at once whether I am to have the object of my long 
journey hampered by the neglect or oversight of the sub- 
manager.' I then came away. The fact is, I am feeling- 
very shaky; the Hebrew is a shrewd old codger, and the 
manager refused to purchase any more exchange on London 
on the pretext that he had all he could use. This is awful ! 
I had a hot time of it, and no mistake ! That Solomons is as 
sharp as a razor, and as suspicious as a boarding-house mis- 
tress. I thank he is assured in his own mind that something 
is wrong. I am afraid it is all up, and I wish we were well 
out of this country." 



SO A COUP DE GRACE ATTEMPTED. 

" There can be no doubt about it," I replied ; " and at this 
moment they are doubtless consulting as to what measures 
can be taken to secure the ten thousand pounds paid you 
until they can get advices from England. The cable is not 
yet completed, and they must wait the slow movement of the 
mail, which will take forty days. You informed him that 
you expected to remain in Brazil three months, and as it is 
known that no one can get out of the country without getting 
his passport visdd at police headquarters, they will not 
arrest you for fear that after all it may be only a mistake, 
unless you attempt to leave Brazil. A bold step must be 
taken. Here are the other letters of credit; take this pen 
and write in the sub-manager's name." 

Although Munson was a skillful penman, he had never 
attempted to forge names himself, Engles having performed 
that delicate operation during the short time we had been in 
such business. The ordeal through which Munson had 
passed had made him nervous ; therefore, though not a drink- 
ing man, I procured a glass of brandy, which he swallowed. 
In a few moments he began to write in the names, though 
with rather a shaky hand. When finished, I compared them 
with the genuine signature in my possession, and found it 
very shaky ; but we were in for it, and I could see but one 
way out; therefore I selected the best, handed them to Mun- 
son, and said : 

" It is not an hour since you left the bank. Take these 
letters back immediately, and show the manager both signa- 
tures, remarking at the same time that the second name must 
have been unintentionally omitted from the one on which you 
drew the ten thousand pounds. He cannot fathom that you 
could have forged the sub-manager's name in so short a time. 
See if it does not prove a 'poser.' Though it may not wholly 
allay suspicion, it will give me time' to make and execute a 
plan for getting you out of the country. Of that I am cer- 
tain. Rely on me, keep cool, and above all keep a stiff upper 
lip, and act up to the character you have assumed. Be sure 



TROUBLE CLEARLY AHEAD. 31 

to offer them more exchange on London, as I wish to ascer- 
tain how they take the proposition ; and if they decline to 
purchase, say that you will' have to transfer your account to 
the English Bank of Rio." 

Starting on his decisive errand, followed by me as before, 
he was not long in the bank, but reappeared empty-handed, 
no one following to " shadow " him. Upon meeting at the 
designated place, Munson informed me that the manager was 
•evidently agreeably surprised when he was shown the letters 
with both signatures ; nevertheless, he had refused to pur- 
chase any more exchange, but had transferred the endorse- 
ment from the letter that had but one signature to one with 
both. All this convinced me that his suspicion was fully 
aroused. It was therefore clear that our safety depended 
upon the invention of a plan by which I could get Munson 
out of Brazil, and at the same time convince the bank man- 
ager that he intended to remain. It must be a plan which 
would throw off any one attempting to watch his movements, 
and make it appear that he was still in the country until the 
steamer in which he sailed should have been at least twenty- 
four hours at sea. 

This plan, and how it was successfully executed, will be 
detailed in the following chapter. 




Chapter IV. 



TECHNICALITIES OF BRAZILIAN LAW — IN A TIGHT SPOT — I RESOLVE ON A BOLD- 
COUP — EFFICACY OF A SUITABLE " DOUCEUR " — A " DOCTORED " PASSPORT — 
A DETECTIVE ON TRAIL, WHO INGRATIATES HIMSELF INTO MUNSON'S CON- 
FIDENCE — MANEUVERS — THE DETECTIVE ON A " WILD GOOSE CHA.SE" — 
SAFELY ON BOARD — A DISTINGUISHED PARTY IN A ROWBOAT — A STERN CHASE 
— OFF AT LAST. 

WHETHER the law remains the same as it was in 1872,, 
I am unable to state ; but at that time every person 
desiring to leave Brazil must be provided with a passport - — 
if a foreigner, one from his own government — if a native,, 
one from the Brazilian. When ready to start, he must take 
his passport to police headquarters and have it visdd, then 
leave it with the ticket-agent where he buys his ticket. This 
agent, after ascertaining from the chief of police that the 
intending passenger is not " wanted " by the authorities, 
transmits the passport to the purser of the steamer, who, in 
turn, hands it to the owner after the ship is at sea. It will 
be seen that these regulations render it very difficult for any 
suspected person to leave Brazil by the regular channels of 
communication ; and if difficult for a native, how much more 
so for a stranger, ignorant of the country and its language,, 
the Portuguese. French, Italian, or German, did well enough 
in the large towns, but the moment a fugitive who did not 
understand their language got into the country, he would 
stand a poor chance of getting far away from Rio. There- 
fore, I was obliged to abandon the project of going south to 
Buenos Ayres — a journey by land of fifteen hundred miles 
— or of crossing the continent to the Pacific by way of the 
Amazon. At last I determined on a bold coup to get Munson 






THE "LIVINGSTONIA." 33 

away on a steamer which was to leave on a certain day. 
Accordingly, I had an American (U. S.) passport filled in 
with the name Gilmore, by which I was known during the 
voyage from England, by the agent of the steamship line, 
and others in Rio. This I took to the police headquarters, 
and finding the anteroom crowded with people, I supposed I 
should be obliged to wait my turn ; but presently the inter- 
preter came along, and, presumably, judging by my appear- 
ance that time was more valuable to me than a little money, 
he whispered in French : " If you are in a hurry, you will 
save time by sending in a small ' douceur ' to the chief, or 
you may have to wait all day." I took the hint and slipped 
into his ready palm a few reys, with which he disappeared 
into the inner room. In a short time I was ushered in and 
my passport vised without my being troubled with an interro- 
gation. Proceeding to the ticket-agent I delivered up the 
passport, receiving and paying for a saloon passage to Liver- 
pool. He recognized me as one of the party who had arrived 
a few days previously by the Zucitania, and expressed some 
surprise at my early return, it being the best part of the year 
for a sojourn in the tropics. I explained that having com-, 
pleted my business, 1 was in a hurry to get back to my own 
country. My next move was to walk along the water-front 
and find where row-boats with oarsmen were to be let. As 
these were to be had at several points, I selected the most 
obscure one toward the northern boundary of the city. Here 
I found a boat, and was rowed out to the steamship Living- 
stonia. I went on board and found the purser, to whom I 
showed my ticket, and asked him to assign me a state-room 
by myself. Having paid him the extra price required for the 
privilege of being the sole occupant, I received the key, took 
a good look around, that I might find the room again without 
the necessity of making inquiries, and left for the city, after 
informing the purser that I should remain on shore until the 
hour for sailing the next day. Upon meeting Munson I 
requested him to call at the bank and casually inform the 



34 "SHADOWED." 

manager that he should start the next morning for S. Romao, 
a town in the interior of Brazil, to be absent a week. He was 
then to go to the Hotel d' Europe, pay his bill, at the same 
time stating that he was to leave Rio by the four o'clock train 
the next morning. As Munson had two trunks, and other 
impedimenta befitting a man of his pretensions, it was neces- 
sary to take a carriage to the station, which was nearly a 
mile distant. It would be unsafe to go in a carriage belong- 
ing to the hotel ; therefore, he was to say that a friend would 
call for him. As it was still two hours to sunset, I suggested 
that after he had arranged matters, he should saunter out, 
walk about the streets until dark, then return to the hotel 
and be ready when I should call for him at three o'clock the 
next morning. 

After these arrangements we separated, I following to 
ascertain if he was being watched or shadowed by detectives. 
When he entered the hotel I remained within view of the 
entrance. It was not long before he reappeared and walked 
leisurely along the street, with gold-headed cane, and real 
diamonds flashing in the tropical sunlight. A few seconds 
later I saw another man come out, cross the street, and go 
in the same direction. I followed him, and was soon satisfied 
that he was keeping Munson in view. This sort of double 
hunt was kept up until dusk, when Munson returned to his 
hotel, unconscious that a moment later his " shadow " entered 
the place. Here was a " stunner " and no mistake, though 
it was no more than I had anticipated as among the possibil- 
ities ; still, I had indulged in the hope that the bank would 
rely entirely on the passport system, and take no further 
steps for a day or two, which was all the time required to 
carry out my plan. Though Munson had good nerve, it was 
already somewhat shaken, and surely the situation would 
have unnerved most men. Therefore, fearing that the cer- 
tain knowledge of imminent danger might still further 
confuse him and cause some false move, I determined 
to keep my discovery to myself. Leaving Munson and his 



A DETECTIVE'S 'GALE." 35 

" shadow " to their own devices at the hotel, I next proceeded 
to an obscure part of the town, and stopping at a small but 
respectable looking tavern, I engaged a room for the next 
day. I also engaged a carriage, with an English-speaking 
driver, to be in readiness at three o'clock the next morning 
— then returned to my own hotel for a few hours' sleep. 
Promptly at the hour I was at the livery stable, where I 
found the carriage ready, and was driven to the Hotel 
d'Europe. Sending the driver up to the office on the second 
floor, Munson soon appeared and informed me that he had 
promised to take to the station a man who was stopping at 
the hotel. " He is going to S. Romao.bythe same train," 
continued Munson, " and seems a good fellow, for I had a long 
talk with him last night." Upon seeing signs of disapproval 
in my face, he explained : " Well, you know, he said he could 
not get a carriage at so early an hour in the morning, and I 
thought it could do no harm to take *him in, and he is waiting 
up stairs." 

It would be diffcult for the reader to imagine the effect of 
this surprising communication upon my mind, for it was clear 
enough that this was the very person who had been " shadow- 
ing " Munson the day before, and had skillfully ingratiated 
himself into his new friend's confidence. I could but admire 
his unwonted " cheek " in asking a contemplated victim for a 
ride to the station. I said to Munson : " What in the world can 
you be thinking of? Don't you see you are blocking our 
whple plan ? Go up and tell him your carriage is loaded 
down with luggage, and express your regrets that you can- 
not accommodate him." 

This Munson was obliged to do, though with repugnance, 
it being against his nature to do anything that looked " mean." 
During this time the baggage was being placed in the carriage, 
and as soon as Munson had dismissed his " passenger," who 
for some reason, did not show himself to me, Ave started rap- 
idly for the station. On the way I requested him to avoid 
making any new friends until he should find himself well out 



36 CUTTING AN ACQUAINTANCE. 

at sea. Said I, " It might be fatal to attract the attention 
of any one, or to let any one see you leave the train. Of 
course this new acquaintance of yours is only a countryman, 
but it is not possible to foresee what disaster the least mis- 
take or want of caution might originate. Now listen : if you 
will be guided entirely by me, you will be safe on the broad 
Atlantic to-night. You know," I continued, " that these cars 
are on the English system, divided into compartments. You 
must go into the station, stand near the ticket-office until 
your new acquaintance comes ; then observe if he buys a first- 
class ; if so, you take a second, and vice versa. Pay no atten- 
tion to him, and let him see you get into your compartment, 
but keep an eye on his movements. In case he comes to get 
in where you are, despite the different class of the tickets, tell 
him the compartment is engaged. Everything depends on how 
you carry yourself through the next twenty minutes. A sin- 
gle false step, a word too little or too much, will surely prove 
fatal to us both ! " 

In accordance with our pre-arranged plan, I stopped the 
carriage opposite the station, it being still dark. Munson 
alighted, went straight inside-, and in a few minutes saw his 
" passenger " come puffing in, nearly out of breath. Un- 
questionably supposing Munson's baggage to be already on 
board the train, he purchased a ticket, and after seeing his 
intended victim enter a compartment, got into another himself 
just as the train began to move. This was the vital moment 
for which Munson had been waiting, and having previously 
unlocked with his master car-key the door opposite, he 
stepped off on that side, hastily crossed to the other platform 
of the dimly-lighted station, and made his way unnoticed into 
the street. While this was passing I sat in the carriage, and 
it was not many minutes before I had the satisfaction of see- 
ing Munson. coming back to me. For the benefit of the driver 
we then had a dialogue somewhat as follows : 

" It is too bad ! Our friends have not arrived ; what shall 
we do?" 



THE BAGGAGE ABOARD. <gj 

" Well, I suppose we must go back to the hotel and wait 
for the afternoon train," I answered. 

" But I have paid my bill there," said Munson, " and do 
not care to go back." 

" Then," I replied, " meet me at the station, and I will look 
after the luggage." 

In case they recovered the trail, the information obtained 
from the driver would cause confusion and delay sufficient, I 
lioped, to enable me to get Munson out of Rio. 

I then told the coachman to drive into the city. It was 
not yet daylight, but after a while I saw a sort of eating-house 
and tavern combined, and had the carriage halted there. 
Alighting, I entered, and said to the person in charge that I 
did not wish to disturb my friends at so early an hour, and 
would pay him for taking care of my baggage, as I wished to 
discharge the carriage. This offer was of course accepted, 
fhe baggage honsed, and the carriage dismissed. In the 
meantime Munson was waiting for me in an appointed place 
not far away, where I joined him, and we went to the obscure 
tavern where the room had been engaged. 

So far my plan had been successful. Munson was hidden 
safely away before dawn, while at the same moment his very 
clever new friend was some miles distant on a " wild goose 
chase " into the interior. Arriving back at my hotel soon 
after daylight, I took a leisurely breakfast, after which I sal- 
lied out and engaged two stalwart slave porters, whom I 
found, according to the custom of their class in Brazil, busily 
occupied in plaiting straw for hats while waiting for a job. 
Motioning them to follow me, I led the way to where Mun- 
son's baggage was stored. Dividing it between the two, we 
proceeded to the place I had selected as the safest to get off 
to the steamer without attracting notice, and had it put into a 
boat. Paying the porters, I followed and was rowed off to 
the steamer. The baggage was hoisted on deck, the trunks 
deposited in the hold, and the smaller articles carried into my 
,state-room : after which I went ashore to await the hour of 



38 A "GOLDEN" STATE ROOM. 

the decisive movement for which I had made such elaborate 
preparations. There was no train by which the detective 
could return to Rio until late in the afternoon ; and I felt 
certain that when he should ascertain that Munson was not 
upon the train, he would be confident that his intended victim 
had slipped off at a way station in order to make his escape 
into the interior. Under this impression he would naturally 
make inquiries at the likely stations, and even if he sent a dis* 
patch to the bank, it would doubtless be to the effect that 
his quarry had left Rio on the early train that morning with 
himself. 

The baggage had taken up my time until ten a.m., and 
returning to my hotel, I packed into a knapsack as many 
bags of gold (about £ 8,000) as I could conveniently carry ^ 
called a carriage, and was driven to where Munson had been 
waiting in great anxiety for several hours. Taking him in y 
we were not long in reaching the place of embarkation, and 
were rowed about five miles up the harbor, where the steamer 
had gone to take in coal. Amid the usual confusion attend- 
ing the departure of an ocean steamer, we got on board 
unnoticed, and went direct to the state-room. By the time 
we were in it the gold had become excessively heavy, and I 
was glad enough to stow it away in one of the berths. We 
had not been long in the state-room before we heard the wel- 
come sound of the bell, warning all who were not about to % 
make the voyage to leave the steamer. I parted from Mun- 
son, recommending him to remain in his state-room until the 
ship should be well out into the Atlantic. Getting into the 
boat again, I was rowed away a short distance, then had the 
oarsman rest on his oars, and soon had the pleasure of seeing 
the Living stonia glide past with her prow pointed toward the 
" Sugar-Loaf." Now, for the first time, I breathed freely, and 
felt a great weight of responsibility roll from my shoulders. 
" Munson is safe, and the danger is over," said I to myself, 
joyfully. Ordering the boatman to row ashore, he turned in 
that direction, and then I saw a boat coming toward the 



TOO LATE. 



39 



steamer, with every oar strained to the utmost — but no atten- 
tion was paid to it. The occupants soon gave up the chase,, 
and through my field-glass I recognized the manager of the 
bank and the Hebrew broker, Mr. Solomons, both of whom 
had been pointed out to me. They had probably just received 
a dispatch from the detective who had been so cleverly out- 
witted and left to journey alone, but having no time to pro- 
cure an order to delay the ship, had hurried off, hoping to get 
on board, confident that the captain would grant every facility 
for a search, and, in case of success, assist them to get Munson 
on shore again. Had they succeeded, I should have been 
involved, and probably learned the lesson on the island of 
Fernando da Noronha that I did later in England. 




Chapter V 



IDLE DATS AT RIO — IMPERIAL HONORS — VISIT TO A COFFEE PLANTATION-— 
SLAVES — A TRIP TO THE LA PLATA — TEN DATS' QUARANTINE ON THE ISLAND 
DE FLORES — MONTEVIDEO AND BUENOS ATRES — THE <l LA FRANCE" — OUT 
IN A PAMPERO — RETURN TO ENGLAND. 

DURING my stay in Rio Janeiro I received from the 
Swedish Colonel, before alluded to, an invitation to be 
present at a special presentation of " Ernani " at the grand 
opera-house in honor of the Imperial family, in accordance 
with which I became one of the favored audience. This was 
very small, and appeared to be composed of the creme de la 
ereme of Brazilian society, the Imperial box being occupied 
by the Emperor Dom Pedro, the Empress, their daughter 
and son-in-law, the latter having made his name famous in 
Brazilian history by his gallant conduct during the late war 
between the gigantic Empire of Brazil and the liliputian 
State of Paraguay. At the Academy of Fine Arts in Rio I 
noticed a large painting representing him seated on a fiery 
war-horse plunging about amid shot and shell, the princely 
rider, with sword waving on high, guiding the storm of battle. 
The Imperial family formed a marked contrast with the 
remainder of the audience, being plainly dressed and making 
no show of diamonds or other jewels. 

Now that Munson was safely on the broad Atlantic, with 
the bulk of the gold in his possession, I felt at ease, though 
there was still a chance that when it became certain that he 
had made his escape out of the country, I might be regarded 
with suspicion and detained. But as I had been extremely 
careful not to be seen in his company, I felt no great anxiety 
on that point. 



A GIGANTIC SCHEME, 41 

The great mistake of that period of my life was that I did 
mot abandon every other plan and go at once to Chicago to 
establish a legitimate business, in accordance with my original 
intentions. 

After securing all the cash we safely could at Rio, Munson 
taking the leading part, we had intended to go down the coast 
to Montevideo and Buenos Ayres, and repeat the operation, I 
doing the leading business in those cities. ■ Going thence by 
steamer via the Strait of Magellan to Valparaiso, we were to 
continue northward, stopping at the large sea-ports along the 
Pacific Coast as far as San Francisco, from which place we 
intended to reach New York by the trans-continental railway, 
with at least a million dollars in our possession. 

It will be seen that this was a gigantic and well-devised 
scheme, which might easily have proven a complete success — 
my experience having led me to believe that such expectations 
^vere by no means unreasonable — had not Engles's obstinacy 
thus frustrated our plan. In yielding to him the point that 
came up in London, as to whether both the manager's and 
sub-manager's names should appear on the forged letters of 
credit, I acquiesced in a step which virtually defeated the 
whole scheme, and changed an easy money-making affair into 
what just missed turning out a tragedy. 

After due consideration, I could see no way of getting out 
of Brazil otherwise than by a voyage to the Bio de la Plata 
(river of silver), it being supposed that I had sailed for 
Europe on board the last European steamer ; in conse- 
quence I had to keep myself secluded as much as possible, 
to avoid running against the Pacific Mail* Line agent and 
others. 

As it would be some days before I could obtain passage 
southward, I passed the intervening time in making excur- 
sions and sight-seeing, Bio and vicinity being a good place 
for both. I need not weary the reader with an extended 
description of the beautiful bay of Rio, closed in on all sides 
bj mountains which rise almost from its shores, with the 



42 



ATTRACTIONS AT RIO. 



unique Sugar-Loaf, 900 feet high, like a huge sentinel guard- 
ing the entrance to a harbor which vies with the far-famed 




SCENE NEAR RIO JANEIRO. 



bay of Naples in the natural beauty and grandeur of its situa- 
tion and surroundings. 

The approach from the sea is very attractive. First 



excursions. 43 

appear distant peaks, scarcely distinguishable from the 
clouds. Approaching, the outlines become more distinct, 
and other mountains become dimly visible in the distance, 
while the hills and slopes are covered with luxuriant tropical 
vegetation. Until the steamer nears the land, it appears as 
if she is about running against a solid wall ; but when quite 
near, the cleft through the mountains opens up, and as she 
enters this, a part of the . city appears in the distance. On 
the north side, opposite the Sugar-Loaf, is the fort of Santa 
Cruz, on which is a lighthouse ; other fortifications guard the 
harbor, and no obstruction prevents ships from entering it in 
safety day or night. The water in this land-locked harbor is 
deep enough and its area sufficient to accommodate all the 
navies of the world. 

The Sugar-Loaf seemed so near the city that I thought it 
would be a good day's sport to climb to the summit, and 
accordingly hired a boat with two oarsmen to row me down 
to its foot. After a long row, to my surprise it appeared as 
far away as ever ; and as I could not understand the jabbering 
of the boatmen, I reluctantly gave the signal to return. A 
visit to the Horticultural Gardens, with their rows of gigantic 
palm-trees, and every variety of tropical flowers and plants, 
was exceedingly enjoyable ; but nothing could be finer than 
a drive along the sides of the mountains behind the city, not 
more than a half-hour's ride from its center. Here were 
located the villas of merchants and bankers, almost hidden 
by the foliage of shrubs and trees, and commanding a view of 
both city and harbor. 

One day, with an acquaintance, I took the early train on 
the same line where the detective was perhaps still looking 
for Munson, and alighted at a small hamlet on the border of 
a stream, about thirty miles from Rio, beyond the mountains. 
Calling at the only store, we found no one able to speak 
either French, Spanish, Italian, or German. Happening to 
look across the street, we saw a sign reading, " Schroeder, 
Painter." We hurried over, and entering, received in answer 
to my " Sprecken sie Deutsche ? " a " Ja, mem herr." 



44 COFFEE. 

With the painter's aid, as interpreter, we were soon 
mounted on horse and mule respectively, I taking the latter. 
My companion intended to be considerably amused at my 
efforts to make the mule keep up with him ; but he counted,, 
on that occasion, without a proper knowledge of the charac- 
ter of that particular mule, which proved the better horse of 
the two. . 

We rode for some miles through a country covered with 
mound-like hills, no sooner coming to the bottom of one than 
we were ascending another. These hills were covered with 
coffee bushes, filled with red fruit about the size of cherries,, 
each containing two kernels. The coffee was being picked 
into large flat baskets by slaves, which when filled they carried 
away on their heads to the drying ground. The roads were- 
bordered with orange trees loaded with luscious fruit, to which 
we helped ourselves. After a time we turned into a bridle- 
path, and rode three or four miles through a dense forest. 
We emerged upon the outskirts of a coffee plantation, where 
the slaves were just on their way to dinner ; and another half- 
mile brought us to the planter's residence. Thirty or forty 
slaves of both sexes and all ages were grouped upon the 
grass, engaged in eating a black looking stew out of metal 
dishes, their fingers serving for knives, forks, and spoons. 
Seeing two horsemen ride out of the forest, they stared in. 
stupid wonder, until one, more intelligent than the others, 
went in search of the overseer. Presently a white man 
appeared, and to our question : " Parlez vous Francais ? " 
shook his head. "Sprecken sie Deutsche?" another shake, 
and the same to " Habla Espagnole ? " but, on hearing, " Par- 
late Italiano ? " came the smiling answer, " Si, signor." He 
proved to be an Italian overseer, in charge of this plantation 
owned by a merchant in the city, who seldom visited the prop- 
erty. The overseer showed us over the place and explained 
all the processes of preparing the coffee for market. 

In one corner of a large, unpainted wooden building was 
what he called the infirmary, and a comfortless looking place- 



AN IRKSOME DELAY. 45 

it was. He said there was no doctor employed and that he 
dealt out medicine to the slaves himself. After being served 
with coffee, we departed and returned to Rio by the evening 
train. 

As the south-bound steamer was due the next day, the 
question which occupied my mind was : " How am I to get out 
of Brazil ? " Munson had left me his passport, from which I 
erased his name and description, and put in my own. The 
next morning I hired a person to take my passport to police 
headquarters, grease the official palm, and have it visdd ? 
although the chief was by law obliged to compare each pass- 
port 'with its holder. He soon returned with the document 
in proper shape, and I then purchased a ticket, leaving the 
passport with the agent. I embarked without trouble, and in 
four days was laying off Montevideo, at the mouth of the Rio 
La Plata, waiting for the health-officer. At that time there 
was no telegraph cable, and everything went slow along the 
coast of South America. 

After keeping the steamer waiting for some hours the 
health-officer condescended to come aboard, and although there 
had not been a single case of sickness, to declare us in quar- 
antine. Accordingly, after discharging the river freight, she 
ran out to sea thirty or forty miles to the Isle de Mores 
(flower island), on which the passengers were landed and kept 
there ten days, paying three dollars per day for board. At 
the expiration of this tiresome period we were taken on board 
a small steamer and landed at Montevideo. 

In that beautifully situated city of revolutions, the win- 
dows are barred like those of a prison," and the walls beveled 
so as to enable the inmates to shoot up and down the streets. 

Taking the night steamer, I was landed at Buenos Ayres 
(good air) the next morning. At that time the place was a 
mongrel between the oriental, tropical, and a brand-new west- 
ern town. After a few days I determined to return to Europe. 
Therefore, my proper name being in my passport, I purchased 
a ticket for a passage by the steamer La France to Marseilles. 



46 PARIS AGAIN. 

Running up the coast of South America we were in a pam- 
pero (hurricane) for twenty-four hours ; and although the La 
France was one of the largest steamers then afloat, the waves 
dashed away over her smokestack and tossed her about like 
an empty cask. 

The La France ran into the harbor of Rio Janeiro and lay 
off the city for several hours. When she came to anchor a 
sidewheel steamer of the line which ran from Rio to New 
York was at the point of leaving. I hailed a boat and was 
rowed off to her to ascertain if I could secure passage to 
New York. When my boat reached the side of the New 
York steamer, I was informed that nearly all passenger 
accommodations had been secured for the Brazilian Prince 
Imperial, and that I could not be permitted to come on board. 

What slight circumstances may change the destiny of 
men for better or for worse,— for a life of poverty and 
wretchedness or prosperity and happiness,-^- for a long life or 
a premature death ! Had I been able to proceed direct to 
New York, and from thence to Chicago, to carry out my long- 
deferred plan, my whole destiny would have been changed ; 
for the possibility of perpetrating the frauds on the Bank 
of England was then among things unknown, and afterwards 
discovered only by accident. 

Among my baggage I always carried a galvanic battery, 
and as there were several hundred Spanish, Portuguese, and 
Italians in the steerage — none of whom had any experience 
with electricity, as developed by human agency — we had no 
end of sport by tempting them to take a silver coin out of 
a bucket of electrized water, and by playing many games to 
give them unexpected shocks. These people were ignorant 
and superstitious and soon came to believe that we were in 
league with the devil. 

In due time I landed at Marseilles, took the train for Paris 
ma Lyons, and arrived in Paris where I joined Munson. 
In the next chapter will be detailed the series of operations 
which led to the disastrous affair with the Bank of England. 



Chapter VI 



2 MEET MUNSON IN PARIS — HIS ACCOUNT OF THE VOYAGE FROM RIO — A PLEAS- 
URE TRIP TO VIENNA — ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE — AN ELECTRIC PHENOMENA — 
I AIR MY GERMAN — RETURN TO LONDON — INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL IN GERMANY. 

AFTER my return to Paris I met Munson, who related 
to me the incidents of the voyage from Rio Janeiro, 
and subsequent events. The following is an epitome of his 
;story : 

" For some little time after you left me on board the 
Zivinc/stonia, I remained perfectly quiet in the state-room, 
until I heard the screw begin to revolve and I felt satisfied 
that the steamer was at last under way. I then ventured out 
on deck, and recognized you in the boat. I also, through 
my glass, saw a boat at a distance pulling hard toward the 
steamer, and the sight made my heart give a great thump ; 
but as the steamer continued on past the last fort, headed for 
the ocean, I recovered my equanimity and drew a breath of 
relief, you may be sure. Then, for the first time, I realized 
what a terrible strain I had undergone for the week previous 
to my escape from Rio Janeiro. It was just the tightest 
oottle I was ever corked up in, and had I known of those 
regulations about passports, I never should have put my neck 
;SO nearly into the Brazilian halter ; and when we were pass- 
ing the lonely island where the convicts are kept, I gazed 
upon it, happy that I was no longer a candidate for a long 
residence in that desolate-looking place. On board I found 
everything correct, and no suspicion existing that I was not 
the man who had purchased the ticket. 

" When we were about two hundred miles out the engine 
broke down, and for a time I thought she would have to put 



48 MEETING WITH McDONALD. 

back to Rio. In that case I knew it would be all up with me, 
and you can imagine the state of my feelings while the sus- 
pense lasted. However, after a few hours the break was 
repaired, and we got under way again. 

" The 140,000 in gold, which I kept in my state-room, was 
a source of much anxiety. I hardly dared to go on deck, or 
into the saloon at meal-time, through fear that it might be 
stolen. At last I put the money in possession of the purser,, 
who charged me two per cent., or eight hundred dollars, 
claiming that it was the regular rate. On the arrival of the 
steamer at Lisbon, I determined to go on shore, and make 
my way to Paris overland through Spain, for the reason that 
I feared dispatches might have been sent from the nearest 
cable station to England, warning the police to be on the 
lookout when the steamer should arrive at Liverpool. 

"As the gold was too heavy a load to lug about, and likely 
to attract attention, I went to an English firm of brokers 
doing business in Lisbon, and purchased Portuguese stocks. 
Having thus got the money into portable shape, I journeyed 
by rail and diligence to Paris, where I have since remained." 

A few days later I met McDonald. He was eager for 
"business," and almost the first question he asked was,, 
" What is the programme ? " 

" Let us return to the United States," I replied. " We 
have a good capital now to put into a straight mercantile 
business. Let us do no more ' crooked ' work, which will be 
certain to get us into trouble sooner or later." For that 
"one more operation" among all classes and grades of thieves, 
from the common sneak to the colossal bank defaulter and 
" boodler," is continued until the small ones get into prison,, 
and the great ones (generally) get out of the country. 

We finally concluded to go to Paris and Vienna for a. 
time. When we reached the latter city we were delayed by 
the sickness of McDonald, who was suffering from a disease 
like modern " malaria." I nursed him for two or three 
weeks, and during the time gave him several powerful shocks* 



THE GERMAN OPERA. 49 

from my battery, which nearly raised him out of bed, if they 
did not cure him. 

. We were living in Vienna — McDonald at the Golden 
Lamb, and I at the Grand Hotel. While waiting for Mac's 
recovery I visited the Imperial opera-house almost nightly, 
and never tired of listening to the music of the magnificent 
orchestra — then the best in the world — each member being 
a solo artist or professor, and receiving a large salary or pen- 
sion from the Emperor. The operas were rendered in the 
German language, and " Orpheus and Eurydice" was brought 
out in a manner that left an indelible impression upon my 
mind, although I had previously witnessed that great creation 
of Gliick's in Paris, London, and New York. 

As I passed the entire day with McDonald at his hotel, I 
must have contracted his malady to some extent, for when he 
began to get about I was prostrated and confined to my room 
for a whole week. As I had never experienced serious illness 
of any kind since childhood, I became so impatient by the 
end of the week that, notwithstanding the doctor's com- 
mands, I declared myself recovered, got up and dressed 
myself for a walk. On each floor of the Grand Hotel in 
Vienna there was at this time (1872) an office where a servant 
or two was in waiting to answer the bells. When I was 
ready to go out I had occasion to call a servant, and touched 
the electric button. I distinctly heard the bell in the office 
ring in response, as I stood, cane in hand, waiting at the 
open door of my room. Soon I touched and held down the 
button for a longer time, and again waited in vain. In my 
then nervous condition I lost both patience and temper, and 
continued the pressure on the button with the following result : 
My room was located in a back corridor farthest from the 
office. When I touched the button I heard the electric bell 
connected with my room tingling rapidly ; soon another joined 
in — then another — and another — until I had a concert of at 
least a hundred bells going. Presently servants came rushing 
through the corridor, and seeing me, one of them explained 



50 "SIE SIND SCHON:' 

that my bell had set all the other bells iathe house going, and 
in consequence they could not tell what room the call was 
from. I could only tell them that if they had answered my 
first or second call there would have been no concert. Thence- 
forth my calls were promptly answered so long as I remained 
at that hotel. Had Mark Twain been at the Grand Hotel that 
day, I am sure he could have obtained material for an entire 
humorous chapter. 

While on the way to Mac's hotel I used frequently to stop 
in at a news-office to purchase the daily paper, which I read 
assiduously to improve my knowledge of the German lan- 
guage. This news-office was conducted by two sisters, who 
were fair specimens of their sex in a city famed the world 
over for beautiful women. I used to air my German by ask- 
ing in that language for the papers I wanted, and generally, 
to my great satisfaction, found that they understood me. 
After I had been a regular customer for some time, I ventured 
to attempt a compliment upon the good looks of one of the 
sisters, remarking : " Sie sind schon ! " A look of surprise 
and the exclamation " Was ? " (what) caused me to repeat in 
my best German : " Sie sind schoh ! " The young lady 
blushed, looking at me earnestly, and seeing that I wore an 
innocent air and was apparently unconscious of anything but 
pride in my knowledge of German, cast her eyes thought- 
fully downward for a moment, and then suddenly burst out 
laughing, clapped her hands vigorously and said : " Oh 
Meinherr ! Sie wollen sagen schon ! " (You are beautiful). 
The reader will observe the two dots (diaeresis) over the " o " 
of the last " schon," without which the pronunciation of the 
word is quite different, and signifies " already " instead of 
" beautiful." I had no intention of saying to her, " You are 
already !" 

Of the many incidents connected with this Vienna trip, I 
distinctly remember two. While on the train between Paris 
and Frankfort — having no money current in the German 
States — I could purchase nothing to eat. .This was before 



MAGYAR GENEROSITY. 51 

the new Prussian coinage had displaced the wretched system 
previously in vogue, by which each petty State manufactured 
its own circulating medium. In the same compartment with 
me was a Hungarian gentleman and his wife, on the way from 
Paris to their home in Prague. This gentleman spoke Eng- 
lish fluently, and as soon as he learned that I was an Ameri- 
can, both himself and wife became enthusiastic in their efforts 
to be sociable. Noticing that I did not get out at the 
halting places for meals, he finally inquired the reason. 
When I acknowledged the dilemma I was in, he produced a 
large pocket-book, which he opened and handed to me saying: 
"Help yourself." From a large amount in Austrian bank- 
notes I selected one of the smallest denomination, and returned 
the pocketbook with my thanks. On arrival at Frankfort, 1 
at once procured the amount at the hotel and sent it to the 
courteous Hungarian. 

On another occasion, at the station of a German town, a 
young married couple came into the same compartment. 
They appeared to belong to the prosperous portion of the com- 
munity, and a throng of well-dressed people came to the train 
to see them off. The bridegroom wore a big, loose German 
wrapper, something like an ulster, and I observed that the 
pockets were like bags well filled. Not long after we came 
to a dining station, where all but the bridal pair and myself 
had dinner. I naturally supposed that the excitement of the 
occasion had taken away their appetites, but was thoroughly 
undeceived when, a little later, the man spread a newspaper 
over their laps, took from one pocket a loaf of bread at least 
one and a half feet long, and from another a monstrous bologna 
sausage. Then, taking out his pocket-knife he cut off a 
" chunk " of each for his bride and for himself. In a remark- 
ably short period they had eaten fully one-half the provisions, 
and the remainder was consigned back to the pockets until 
supper time. 

I mention these incidents of travel merely to illustrate the 
proverbial generosity and honest simplicity of the Slavonic 
and Germanic character. 



Chapter VII 



UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT TO "BEAT THE DUTCH" — MAC'S " GEEAT DISCOVERY"" 

— LONDON AGAIN — FIRST INCEPTION OF THE GREAT BANK OF ENGLAND FORGERT 

— DEDUCTIONS FROM MCDONALD'S "GREAT DISCOVERY" — VERIFICATION OF 
COMMERCIAL NOTES AND BILLS OF EXCHANGE — LETTER FROM A BANK MANAGER 

— I CABLE TO AMERICA FOR NO YES — SIR SIDNEY WATERLOW'S CLERKS — MIS- 
TAKEN IDENTITY — A KEY TO THE MYSTERY — NO WOOD ENGRAVERS IN PARIS 

— I PUT MY NECK IN THE HALTER — HORTON ACCOUNT OPENED AT THE CONTI- 
NENTAL BANK — THE "FRAUD MACHINE " IN WORKING ORDER — I RESOLVE TO 
GIVE UP THE CONTEMPLATED FRAUD AND GO HOME — A FATAL COMPLIANCE — 
DON'T. 

ONCE more in London with my two companions, the ques 
tion arose : " What next ? " I had determined to aban 
don a dangerous business ; but difficulties arose which caused 
delay in the execution of my project, until finally I concluded 
to go to Amsterdam to see if I could find an opening for one 
more operation which was to be the very last — and such the 
one opened up by this journey proved to be. Leaving my 
companions in London, I arrived in the city of dykes and 
canals, and at once began prospecting among the bankers. 
But the cautious Hollanders would have nothing to do with 
strangers at any price, no matter how plausible the pretext. 
It was in vain that I showed them my circular letter of credit 
and United States passport. These awe-inspiring documents, 
which elsewhere had proved a sufficient introduction, had no 
effect with the good burghers of Amsterdam. They received 
me very politely, and on my expressing a wish to purchase a 
bill of exchange on London (or any other city), the reply 
invariably was : " Have you a letter of introduction to us ? " 
Upon my replying in the negative : " We never transact busi- 
ness of any kind with persons unknown to us," was added in 
way of explanation. Then handing over the documents above 



IN TEE JUDEN STEASSE. 53 

mentioned, I said : " Unfortunately I did not procure letters 
to any one in this city, not expecting to make any stay, but I 
suppose my letter of credit and passport will be a sufficient 
introduction for the purchase of a bill to be paid for in cash ? " 
*' Anyone can procure a circular letter of credit," was the 
reply ; " besides it is our invariable rule to decline all dealings 
except with those with whom we are acquainted, either per- 
sonally or by introduction." A few trials with the same 
result satisfied me that some other plan must be discovered. 
I was nearly at my wits' end as to how to insert the small end 
of the wedge which should pry out a good-sized nugget from 
the "pocket" of one of these bulky — in body and estate — 
but justly cautious Hollanders, who really understood how to 
•do business safely. 

Some time previously I had purchased several bills of 
-exchange in Frankfort, drawn on merchants in Amsterdam, 
out not yet due. I now called on them, and, in each case, 
liad the bills accepted, at the same time telling them that I 
wished to use the money and would feel obliged if they would 
pay their bill at once less the discount. The reply was as I 
expected, that they based all their merchandise operations on 
paying bills only as fast as they became due. The real object 
of the request was that I should have some excuse for asking 
the address of a broker whom I could employ to purchase 
Mis, etc. My ruse was successful — for, supposing that one 
who held their own paper to a considerable amount must be 
all right, upon my request a member of one of the firms on 
whom I called gave me the name of a Mr. Pinto, a Hebrew 
member of the Amsterdam Stock Exchange. In this way I 
soon procured several addresses. With the list I returned to 
the " Black Eagle," and after a twelve o'clock dinner I went 
in search of Mr. Pinto and found him at his residence — a 
front room of which served for an office — in the Juden 
Strasse (Jew Street), and a strange place it is on a Saturday 
afternoon, the time when I first visited that unfragrant quar- 
ter. Informing him of my business and the name of the mer- 



54 AN UNFRUITFUL FIELD. 

chant who gave me his address — which he appeared to think 
a sufficient introduction — he took the matter in hand, and 
leaving 20,000 guilders in Dutch bank-notes with him for the 
purchase of bills on Hamburgh, also the Frankfort bills before 
named, to be sold on " Change," I departed. Calling the fol- 
lowing day I found that he had accomplished the transaction. 
I then deposited a still larger sum with him, and requested 
him to purchase some bills in " marks banco." These were 
duly purchased and delivered, but so far I could see no open- 
ing for a " speculation " of my peculiar kind. Having no- 
particular plan of procedure up to this moment, I was only 
casting about in an experimental way. A day or two later I 
called, and arranged to have him sell on Change all the bills 
on Hamburgh. Later he informed me that the rate of 
exchange on that city was lower and that he had not sold on 
account of the price. Upon explaining that I had another 
operation in view that would recoup me for the loss, he im- 
mediately went on Change and sold out at a loss of fifty 
pounds sterling. Among the bills previously purchased was 
one on Baring Brothers, which I had sent to McDonald in 
London, and which, as will be seen, proved to be the first step 
in the " Great Bank Forgery." 

Aside from the Barings bill the purchase and sale of all 
those bills had accomplished nothing but to increase nry 
respect for the cautious, therefore safe modes of transacting 
business in Holland. In these respects, far ahead of any 
other country in which I ever had business transactions, the 
strict uncompromising methods of the Dutch rendered the 
country a most unfruitful field for all classes of swindlers. 
I had sold out the bills as above, because there seemed to be 
no possible way, that I could see, to " beat the Dutch," and I had 
in consequence resolved to proceed to Frankfort-on-the-Main, 
with the hope of finding some way to make the Rothschilds 
contribute a small part of the wealth accumulated at the origi- 
nal starting-place of that remarkable family. My prepara- 
tions for going to that city being completed, at the moment of 



MAC EXPLAINS. 55 

departure I received a dispatch from Mac that changed the 
whole aspect of affairs, and proved that the unpremeditated 
sending of the Baring bill gave the first impulse to a train of 
ideas which finally culminated in the fraud on the Bank of 
England. Let the reader bear in mind that this was in No- 
vember, less than four months before the first false bills were 
sent to the Bank of England for discount. The dispatch read 
as follows : 

London, November 2d, 1872. 
To George Bidwell, Amsterdam: 

Have made a great discovery. Come immediately. . Mac. 

This dispatch was really the first inception of the fraud ; 
and yet the bank managers, in order to protect themselves from 
the charge of carelessness, although aware of the existence 
of the dispatch, made every effort to carry the impression 
that we had' contrived the plan of the fraud in America ; had 
there spent many months in making preparations ; and that 
all of our operations on the Continent, described above and 
elsewhere, were a part of the original scheme. I have no 
desire to extenuate or excuse, but this fact, together with the 
alleged " attempt to escape from Newgate " during the trial, 
was what really got us the " life sentence." 

That dispatch was a great mystery to me, but I quickly 
decided to obey the summons, first obtaining through Mr. 
Pinto a number of bills of exchange drawn on first-class 
London houses. Arriving in London the following night, I 
received from McDonald a solution of the mystery. I give his 
explanation, as near as I can remember, in his own words : 

" As soon as I received that bill on Baring's I went there 
to collect the money. Instead of paying the amount by 
check or in gold or notes, as I expected, the cashier stamped 
on the face : ' Payable at the London and Westminster Bank/ 
and endorsed it. Upon taking it there it was cashed without 
a question. It occurred to me immediately that if we were 
to get some blank bills of exchange, we could make as many 
as we liked by imitating the original, and draw the money from 
the bank with the same ease that I did for the genuine bill." 



56 AN OPENING. 

Such was the " great discovery " that had brought me 
from Holland, and it might have worked for the small sums 
that could be drawn in one day, with due regard to safety. 
That did not suit me, and Mac's financial plan was never 
put in operation in the form he had conceived ; nevertheless 
it served as an initiatory step in the long journey which we 
were preparing to undertake. 

McDonald had no sooner informed me of the particulars 
regarding his " great discovery " than it flashed through my 
mind : " Here is the opportunity to use the long-neglected 
Bank of England account." I reasoned that as the bank had 
paid the Barings bill to McDonald without verifying the 
signature, it must be the custom in England to transfer bills 
of exchange from hand to hand without sending them to the 
acceptors to be initialed. If this was true, it followed that 
the banks discounted paper without making any inquiry as 
to the genuineness of the signatures, relying entirely on the 
character of the customer who offered the paper for discount. 

Here was an opening, indeed ! 

When this proved to be a fact, all I had to do was to start 
a manufactory for making imitation bills, and deposit them 
in the Bank of England for discount through the medium of 
the " Warren " account. 

This reasoning appeared to be sound ; still, I could not 
believe it to be among the possibilities that any bank, espe- 
cially an institution like the Bank of England, should do 
business in so loose a manner. In New York, so long ago as 
1854 — the year of my first visit to that emporium — it had 
been the custom among the bankers and brokers to send all 
offered paper to the purported drawers or acceptors to have it 
initialed by them. In consequence of that very necessary 
precaution, any attempt to perpetrate on a New York bank 
such a fraud as the one so easily carried out against the 
Bank of England, would have been nipped in the bud. 

The following letter from the London Times comes in 
apropos at this point: 






plots. 57 

London, September 8, 1873. 

Sir, — The revelations which have been made, in connection 
with the late Bank of England forgeries, have shown us a weak- 
ness in our way of doing business in neglecting to obtain the verifi- 
cation of acceptors and drawers "to bills discounted. 

Doubtless the presentation and initialing of every bill discounted 
"by our large London bankers would entail much time and extra 
labor, and would in many cases be impossible; but it would be a 
comparatively easy matter to send a copy of each bill discounted to 
the acceptor and drawer, informing them that such a bill had been 

discounted by Messrs. , printed forms being kept for the 

purpose, leaving a blank place for name, date, and amount. 

I am, etc., Bank Manager. 

In turn I explained my plan of using the Warren account 
in the Bank of England that had been lying so long compara- 
tively useless. Without delay the bulk of our money was 
placed in Warren's hands to deposit in the account, so that 
in case we finally concluded to attempt the execution of the 
fraud, the large balance would show well on the bank books. 
I also sent the following cable dispatch to E. Noyes — 
("Noyes"), New York: 

Come by first steamer. Answer, Langham, London. 

In sending for Noyes at this time, my idea was to hare 
" Warren " introduce him to the bank, and let him open an 
account, by means of which the fraud could be carried on, 
leaving Austin entirely disconnected with it, save in having 
introduced Noyes. I imagined that in such a case no proof 
could be adduced that he knew, at the time of introduction, 
of Noyes' intention to defraud the bank. On more mature 
reflection I saw that such a transfer might thwart the whole 
undertaking, by starting inquiries which should bring to light 
the very slender foundation on which the Warren account 
had been opened with the Bank of England. Besides, that 
account had been made more solid by the length of time it 
had been opened, and the amount of legitimate business 



58 MONETARY MATTERS. 

transactions through it. I therefore proposed an alternative 
plan which was at once put in execution, as follows : 

On the 2d of December, 1873, Austin, who had not yet 
had the warning of a portending railway accident, opened an 
account at the Continental Bank in the name of C. J. Horton, 
depositing X 1,300 in bank-notes. As anticipated, seeing 
their new customer deposit such a sum, no embarrassing 
questions were asked .by the managers, and, doubtless, 
noting that he had "business" transactions with a depositor 
in the Bank of England, whose checks were duly honored 
there, they were led to believe that further inquiry was 
unnecessary. The next day I had a Warren check deposited 
to Horton's account, and the operation repeated, varied with 
checking out small sums, from day to day, in order to give 
the affair an air of genuine business. I also purchased sev- 
eral bills of exchange, and had Warren take them to the bank 
manager, Mr. Francis, for discount. Upon returning from 
the bank, he said there would be no risk in taking £50,000* 
in false bills and bringing away the gold, thus ending the whole 
matter at a stroke. But this appearing to me a hazardous 
undertaking, I adhered to the slower plan, though, as the 
sequel" shows, such a coup might have been successful. The 
backs of the * bills were covered with the endorsements of 
the various firms through whose hands they had passed. 
These endorsements were copied in facsimile so that the 
false bills in contemplation should have all the characteristics 
of the originals. 

As bills of exchange will be frequently mentioned, some of 
my readers may not know exactly what they are, and how 
used. For example, a manufacturer of silk in Lyons sells 
goods to the amount of five thousand dollars to a responsible 
merchant on six months' credit. The merchant gives his note 
or bill for the whole, or, as is usual, several of five hundred 
or a thousand each, to the order of himself, or the manufact- 
urer, payable at (say) Rothschilds' in London. He is careful 
to see that his balance is sufficient or to arrange with the Roths- 



THE LORD MAYORS PRINTING-HOUSE. 59 

childs to accept and pay them when due. The manufacturer 
endorsing pays them out, or puts them in his bank for discount. 
The bank in turn also endorsing, sells them to a customer who 
las bills to meet in London. After endorsing, he likewise 
remits them to his correspondents, who pay his bills with the 
proceeds of their discount or sale — first, however, sending 
them to be accepted by the Rothschilds, from which time they 
are known as." acceptances." 

It may be easily seen how I was enabled to plan and exe- 
cute this mammoth fraud, when I state that the Bank of Eng- 
land cashed acceptances such as I have described without 
sending them to the Rothschilds to see whether their signa- 
ture or acceptance was genuine. The last seven words give the 
key to the whole mystery. While in Germany I had purchased 
every variety of ink on sale at the stationers, so that in case of 
need I could have not only any written document imitated, 
but also written with like ink. I had also, out of curiosity, 
purchased a great variety of blank bills of exchange, printed 
in French, German, Dutch, Italian, Russian, Turkish, and 
Arabic. At the time of this purchase, my companions laughed 
at me for " lugging about a lot of trash " for which I had no 
possible use. But, now that I was about to tackle the Bank 
of England, I found them, like Mrs. Partington's coffin-plate, 
handy to have in a portmanteau. I also continued sending 
remittances to my Hebrew broker in Amsterdam, Mr. Pinto, 
requesting him to send me several bills on London. These, 
together with some already in my possession, gave me the 
opportunity of getting a great number of the endorsements, 
stamps, and signatures of leading firms on the Continent and 
in London. 

I went to the printing and stationery establishment of Sir 
Sidney Waterlow, then Lord Mayor of London, before whom 
we were afterward under examination at the Mansion House, 
at intervals for four months (see cut), there I left an order for 
two books of blank drafts or bills of exchange, and in a few 
days called at the city office for them. The manager had to 



60 BLACK AND BLUE. 

send to the printing-house for them, and in consequence kept 
me waiting more than an hour, he and the clerk talking with 
me for some time. Yet those two men within three months 
swore before their master, the Lord Mayor, on our examination,, 
that McDonald was the man — he having light hair and blue 
eyes, my hair being black — and Mac and I sitting beside 
each other in full view of the witnesses. 

I only mention this as an instance of mistaken identifica- 
tion, which less than fifty years ago might have hanged Mac r 
and set me, the real actor, at liberty. In this connection it 
will be proper to state that, not wishing any one to suffer for 
my own acts, as soon as the day's examination was over r 
after returning to my lonely cell in Newgate, I wrote a full 
account regarding my visit to the Lord Mayor's establishment, 
giving particulars which proved so conclusive that those im- 
portant witnesses did not appear at the subsequent trial at 
the Old Bailey. 

I also required some small wood engravings — f ac-similes 
of the various bank and private endorsement stamps. It had 
been a part of my plan that I was to remain in the back- 
ground, contriving and giving directions, leaving others to- 
carry them out. The reason for this was that I might be free 
from anxiety for my personal safety, and would thereby be 
enabled to act with coolness and judgment in the manage- 
ment of the business, and in disposing of the proceeds of the 
fraud in case the project should be successful. I also intended 
that no one of us, except Noyes, should show himself in Eng- 
land in connection with the affair, therefore I sent McDonald,, 
who could pass for a Frenchman, to Paris to get the required 
blocks engraved. After three or four days' absence he 
returned to London without them, and gave me the surprising 1 
information that there were " no wood engravers in Paris." 
I afterwards discovered that while there he whiled away the 
time, and returned to play that tale on my credulity. 

Placing implicit belief in that statement, I had a serious 
argument with myself as to whether I should not throw up the 



LONDON WOOD ENGRAVERS. 



61 



whole matter and go home, rather than do anything which 
might involve me and leave a possible clue to connect myself 
with the fraud ; for it would be a very delicate operation to pro- 
cure the blocks, etc., in London, without arousing suspicion, 
and I would trust no one else to do it. Suppose that the 
actions or words of the person sent should excite the suspicion 




MERCHANTS EXCHANGE, ILLUMINATED. 

of the engraver, trifling indications of which might not be 
noticed, or thought worth reporting to me ? The engraver 
would communicate his suspicions to the police, detectives 
put on, and we " ambushed " in the midst of our operations. 
Finally T resolved to order the blocks myself — there being no 
wood engravers in Paris — though with great reluctance, and 



62 NO YES THE HERO. 

with the feeling that I was committing a grave error. I 
therefore made a list of all the wood engravers in London, and 
spent two or three days driving about in a cab, selecting five 
out of the forty or fifty with whom I conversed, to do the 
work, judging them to possess simple, unsuspicious natures. 
The result proved that I made no mistake in my selections, 
as the work was quickly done, and no suspicions as to its real 
object transpired. 

It would appear that the qualifications thus worse than 
wasted, if properly used might have taken me to the top round 
of the ladder ; though I do not mention this in a boasting 
spirit, but only to show that where I made a failure of getting 
rich by dishonest means, others would doubtless have been de- 
feated, for " something " always happens. 

In the meantime Noyes had received my cablegram and 
sailed for England. An hour after his arrival in London I 
met him, and in answer to his inquiries, informed him 
that I was speculating on the Merchants' Exchange, and 
expected to wind up my operations shortly. I told him he 
must ask no more questions, but follow my directions implic- 
itly and promptly ; that I should not even let him know where 
the rest of us lodged, after the first of January. I further 
informed him that he was to act as clerk for " Horton," 
and though our operations were a little irregular, that he 
should be taken care of, kept out of danger, and be well paid 
for his services ; and impressing it on his mind to obey orders 
like a soldier, I left him. 

And yet, this man, who was to be paid with about five per 
cent, of the proceeds of the crime, received the same life sen- 
tence, and is at the present time serving his nineteenth year at 
hard labor in Portsmouth Prison, England. When arrested, 
lie would not betray us ! even though the prosecution offered 
to permit him to turn Queen's evidence, the acceptance of 
which would have freed him as soon as the trial should be 
finished. Let his case be a warning not to touch pitch lest 
ye be drawn into the slimy depths. 



A PROPOSITION. 63 

In order to secure Noyes against any fatal disaster in case 
of a premature discovery, 1 had an advertisement for a situa- 
tion as clerk, by one who could deposit a cash guarantee, 
inserted in the Daily Telegraph (London). This Noyes was 
to show to the landlord of Durant's hotel where he was staying, 
and arrange a meeting between himself and Horton, taking 
care that persons should be within hearing while the latter 
bargained with the former to become his clerk. To cover 
this source of danger to Noyes more surely, I had them go to 
David Howell, solicitor — of whom more anon — who drew 
up an article of agreement between them, for which that delec- 
table limb of the law charged ten pounds sterling. On De- 
cember 28, 1872, I mailed from Birmingham to the Bank of 
England genuine bills of exchange, amounting to four thou- 
sand three hundred and seven pounds, for discount, in order 
to ascertain if our ". Fraud Machine " was in working order, 
and as they were discounted without question, this proved to 
be the case. 

Shortly after the events just recorded, I received a letter 
from my wife which determined me to return home at once, 
and woe to me that I failed to carry out that determination. 
Going immediately to the Grosvenor Hotel, where my two prin- 
cipal associates were staying, I informed them of my resolution. 
After some discussion it was agreed to drop the plan against 
the Bank, and I reverted to my old idea of going to Chicago 
to engage in trade. 

Upon leaving I told my brother that I was going to pay 
my bills, and should call later for a check for my share of the 
money in the bank. Having paid up all my personal debts, 
I found that I could get off to America by the next day's 
steamer from Liverpool. Permit me right here to call atten- 
tion to one of those very slight causes which affect a man's 
entire future existence, and which made me change my plans, 
so that, instead of passing happy years amidst family and 
friends, I came to endure long years of misery in a foreign 
prison. Thus it happened : While I was absent, McDonald 



64 THEORIZING. 

requested my brother Austin to propose to me that I should: 
leave my share of the money behind in the bank and draw 
for it after my arrival in America. Accordingly, when I 
returned, that proposition was made to me, and it placed me- 
in a quandary; for I did not like to show apparent distrust 
by refusing, nor did I like the idea of leaving it behind. 
Besides such a proposition at that juncture, made me suspect 
an intention on their part to remain behind with the idea 
of attempting to carry out the plan of fraud. In my opin- 
ion, any attempt to undertake the management of such an 
operation, involved certain disaster, as neither of them pos- 
sessed the exact qualifications requisite, especially an exact 
knowledge of, and experience acquired in, legitimate busi- 
ness. I theorized thus to myself : " This is one of those 
unique operations which, if anything, will result in a great 
success or a terrible disaster. I see clearly that the affair 
can be carried on so that only one person need show himself,, 
and if each does his part thoroughly, it can be done with 
little or no risk. Still it will not be common prudence for us 
two brothers to take part in the same criminal operation. If 
1 go into this, he shall go home ; and if I should get into trou- 
ble, he could look after my family. But that 'if is what 
troubles me. To be sure, I can shroud the operation and 
the operators in so thick a veil of mystery that it would 
trouble them to get a clue or even to discover the fraud until 
two months after we should all be out of England." It will 
be perceived that the whole plan and system of operations 
stood clearly outlined in my mind. One thing alone gave me 
cause of distrust, and that was the possibility of carelessness 
or neglect on the part of my ablest associate ; but I thought 
I could make such strict terms and conditions that no 
disaster would be likely to happen from that source, unless 
I was directly deceived and kept in the dark regarding his 
movements, and I believed he had too much good sense to do 
that. The result will show, by one of the most remarkable 
examples on record, that the only road to final success is to 



"/*'." 65 

keep clear of the slightest contact with wrong-doing, no 
matter how plausible the reasonings. 

Certainly, in planning so gigantic a fraud, I believed every 
point could be so completely covered, that even my name 
would never be known, for otherwise I should have been 
hunted through the world. Without this apparent certainty 
I should have abandoned the idea of a job which turned out 
so badly that it took me nearly fifteen years to get out of it. 

If among my readers there may be one who has become 
possessed with the idea that he cannot make money enough 
honestly to satisfy his desires, and is inclined to try the other 
plan, my counsel is — don't! Better to reduce the desires to 
fit the circumstances, than get into circumstances the end of 
which may be a prison — in any event, disgrace. 

I tried one plan thoroughly, and as sure as you do, it will 
come home and blast your life, as it has blasted mine and the 
lives of those near and dear to me — and as it has invariably 
blasted the lives of all who have " tried it on ". 

Still that " if " stood in my way ; however, I finally con- 
cluded to defer my journey home for a day or two, that I 
might have time to consider this new phase in the posture of 
affairs. 




Chapter VIIL 



BANK OF ENGLAND'S ARGUS EYES. 

I again resume the thread of my narrative. It had occu- 
pied about two months in making the preparations described 
in the last chapter, and I was still so doubtful as to the possi- 
bility that the Bank of England would not discover the 
fraud with the first batch of bills, that I had fully prepared 
only what represented £ 4,250. I had preserved the endorse- 
ment blocks used in their manufacture, so that in case we 
were disappointed, and the bank really discounted them, we 
could rush up a larger number in a few days. It was exactly 
this doubt which had prevented the accumulation of a suffi- 
cient quantity of false bills ; for despite the fair look of the 
thing, it was difficult to believe otherwise than that the bank 
had what looked like a vulnerable point guarded in some way 
that had escaped my scrutiny. Besides, I had the Warren 
account with the Bank of England, and the Horton account 
at the Continental Bank. With these simple means I now 
proposed to enter the bomb-proof vaults of the greatest finan- 
cial fortress of which history gives account. 

My brother was safely out of England. All was prepared 
for the trial test. 

" Will the false bills go through ? Will the argus eyes of 
the renowned Bank of England detect the imposture at the 
first glance?" These and similar questions agitated my 
mind at this juncture. To settle the question, I took the 



PRE CA UTI ONAR Y ME AS (J RES. 67 

.£4,2-50 in false bills and went to Birmingham. There I 
engaged a room at the Queen's Hotel, and on ^paper brought 
with me I wrote in Warren's name, imitating his hand- 
writing, to Mr. Francis, Manager of the Western Branch of 
the Bank of England, the following : 

Birmingham, January 21, 1873. 
Dear Sir: 

I hand you herewith, as per enclosed memorandum, bills for 
discount, the proceeds of which please place to my credit on receipt. 
I remain, dear sir, Yours very truly, 

F. A. Warren. 

On the previous day all the money, except about one hun- 
dred pounds, had been drawn out of the London banks, so 
that in case of a discovery that would be the only additional 
loss — the previous preparations having cost about as much 
more. We had also prepared everything for an immediate 
flight in case it should prove a failure. I waited in Birming- 
ham until the next day, in order to hear from Mr. Francis, or 
otherwise get a clue as to the fate of the false bills. In case 
the forgery had been discovered, he would doubtless reply to 
the letter all the same, and simultaneously put the Birming- 
ham police on the scent, or send a detective from London to 
watch at the post-office and arrest the person, who called for 
the letter. Suppose I should be thus arrested ? Mr. Francis 
could not recognize me as otherwise connected with his cus- 
tomer, Warren, he never having seen me ; but I should have 
been asked some awkward questions, and why I had called 
for Warren's letters. That I might have even a lame excuse 
ready, I wrote a note as follows : 

Birmingham, January 22, 1873. 
Postmaster: 

Sir, — Please deliver any letters for me to the bearer, and 
oblige F. A. Warren. . 

Calling at the post-office, and seeing no sign that it was 
specially watched, I handed in the order, and was given a 



68 THE FRAUD IN FULL BLAST. 

letter. Had I been arrested, I should have said that I met a 
gentleman on the train and fell into conversation with him, 
and just before arriving at Birmingham he remarked that he 
must continue his journey to Liverpool, and would feel obliged 
to me if I would call for his letters and forward them. 
I hurried to catch the London train, and as soon as I was 
under way I opened the letter, which was to the following 

purport : 

"Western Branch of the Bank of England, 
London, January 22, 1873. 
F. A. Warren, Esq., P. 0. Birmingham: 

Dear Sir, — Your favor of the 21st, enclosing £4,250 in bills 
for discount, is received, and proceeds of same passed to your 
credit as requested. Hoping you are recovering from the effects 
of the fall from your horse, and that I may have the pleasure of 
seeing you in London soon, I remain, dear sir, 

Yours faithfully, P. M. Francis. 

On arrival in London, I gave Noyes " Warren " checks for 
£ 4,000, which he deposited in the Continental Bank to Hor- 
ton's credit. I next filled in and signed Horton checks for 
about .£3,000, with which he purchased United States bonds 
from Jay Cooke, M'Culloch & Co., at their banking-house in 
Lombard Street — the Wall Street of London. 

This completed the operation, and as soon as we could 
prepare more false bills we were ready for another of exactly 
the same kind, only on a larger scale — and thus we kept 
repeating until the discovery. 

Thinking that the purchase of such large sums of United 
States bonds from day to day might attract attention, I 
devised another plan, viz. : The forged bills being sent from 
Birmingham by mail, discounted and placed to Warren's 
credit at the Bank of England, the amount immediately 
transferred to the Horton account at the Continental Bank 
by means of Warren checks — I had Noyes reduce the latter 
account by drawing out Bank of England notes. These were 
taken to the bank and exchanged for gold, which was deliv- 



$50,000 PER DAY. 69 

<ered in sealed bags of £1,000 each, and immediately carried 
back and exchanged for notes by another person. The object 
of this double exchange was to break the connection, it being 
obligatory that a list of the numbers of all notes paid out, and 
to whom, must be preserved by bankers and other dealers. 
Even when passed from hand to hand, the person who pays 
oat a note must endorse on the back of it his or her name 
and address, and this notwithstanding that they are made pay- 
able "to bearer" exactly like "greenbacks."- And, indeed, 
the disposal of so much gold without attracting notice was 
one of my chief anxieties — in fact, I found there was such a 
thing as having too much of that useful metal. The reader 
may realize this fact when I state that while the " business " 
was in operation our " income " was at times more than 
$50,000 per day. 

I cannot refrain from relating, right here, an incident which 
illustrates the folly of " crowing before one is out of the 
woods," or " counting chickens before they are hatched." 

One evening in January, while the " fraud machine " was 
in full operation, three stylishly dressed young men met in a 
private parlor of the St. James Hotel, Piccadilly. Two of 
them appeared to be in high spirits — perhaps possessed by 
€vil spirits, whom spirits of another kind might conciliate — 
and one of the party called for a bottle of " Yueve Cliquot " in 
honor of the occasion, the " golden calf" having been worshiped 
that day to the jingle of many bags of sovereigns. The elder 
of the trio was in a pensive mood, and was rallied by his hila- 
rious companions for his taciturnity, which became more 
marked as their merriment increased. They saw themselves 
safely back in America, the possessors of fortunes, however 
wrongfully obtained, yet obtained in a way that would leave 
behind no ruined widows and orphans to linger out the 
remainder of their blighted lives in poverty. That was a 
point which added zest to their enjoyment of the prospect. 
Being obtained from an institution, into whose impregnable 
vaults flowed the wealth of the world, was a source of inez- 



70 THE ELDER ROBBER SPEAKS. 

pressible satisfaction to those gentlemanly appearing robbers. 
At last the elder could endure the situation no longer, and 
addressed the party very much as follows : 

" Well, my friends, you believe that nothing can happen 
to hinder the full realization of your hopes, and that you 
are as safe as if you were already off for America; but I 
advise you to moderate your ardor and not be too sanguine — ■ 
too certain. It is true that everything is so arranged, works 
so smoothly, and ourselves shrouded in so dense a fog — a 
London fog — of mystery, that, even in case of a premature 
discovery, they may not be able to reach us or get a clue to 
our personality. 

" It appears as if the bank managers had heaped a mountain 
of gold out in the street, and had put up a notice, ' Please do 
not touch this,' and then had left it unguarded with the guile- 
less confidingness of an Arcadian. Who could ever have 
imagined they would have left such an open path to their 
bags of gold ? Thousands of Englishmen have gone out to 
India to ' shake the Banyan tree,' but this beats that ' legal ' 
way of c making ' a fortune «out of sight. Despite the smooth 
surface, I have a foreboding that Aeolus is brooding a storm 
that may send our gold-laden bark among the rocks, and our- 
selves with it. Negligence or accident will beat the ' best laid 
plans,' and we shall have the greatest success or the most 
terrible disaster possible. Let us do no more crowing until 
we are out of the woods." 

With these words the speaker relapsed into his thoughtful 
mood, and soon after departed, leaving his goblet of Vueve 
Cliquot untasted. 

It was not long after this that a truly laughable incident 
occurred. During our stay in London, it was frequently 
remarked that McDonald bore a strong general resemblance 
to the Prince of Wales. One afternoon Mac and I were 
sauntering past the " Horse-Guards," and as soon as the mag- 
nificent sentry (placed on horseback in the gateway) saw us, 
he brought his sword to the salute and kept it there until we 



THE VERY LAST LOT. 71 

were past. Exactly who he took me for has ever since been 
— not a casus belli — but a subject of curious cogitations — 
especially when in prison, writing petitions to the Home Office 
for my release — whether I should not refer the secretary of 
State to the sentry, in order to prove satisfactorily that I 
was a " somebody." 

On the 27th day of February my associate and myself 
had a consultation as to whether we should stop with what 
we had, or put in one more batch of bills. It was finally 
decided to put in another, and the very last lot. In thus tak- 
ing the pitcher once too often to the well, too little account 
was taken of two all-important points — neglect of business 
and the possibility of accidents, the latter, of course, usu- 
ally arising out of the former. Early the next day I posted 
in Birmingham to the Bank more than $100,000 in false bills, 
congratulating myself that the affair was so nearly finished, 
and that the next day I should be off for America. When 
these bills were mailed the balance in both banks had been 
reduced to less than a thousand pounds. 

Remaining in Birmingham, early the next morning I sent 
a cabman to the post-office with an order for letters addressed 
to Warren, and kept a watch on him to see if he was followed 
from the office. After satisfying myself that he was not being 
" shadowed," I got from him the letter, which was from Mr. 
Francis, stating that the bills had been received, discounted, 
and the proceeds placed to the credit of the Warren account. 
Of course, this was the last of a number of letters from Mr. 
Francis, which had been received by me during the progress 
of the affair, and as each came to hand I could not repress a 
feeling of regret that by the irony of fate I seemed destined, 
in the execution of " speculations," to abuse the confidence of 
some of the best of men. The fact that, as in the present 
instance, I was taking no advantage of facilities afforded by a 
position of trust — Mr. Francis never having seen me — was 
the excuse with which I had always, in such cases, tried to 
salve my conscience. 



72 



FEELING OF THE BANK. 



The letter in question satisfied me that our false bills had 
gone through the mill, and would be laid away in the vaults 
of the bank to be forgotten until they should become due 
two months later ; and thus it would have been, but for an 
unforeseen occurrence to be related shortly. I hurried 
to the station, and taking a train arrived in London by the 




GAERAWAY S. 

time the banks were open for business. In order to be 
certain that all was right before sending Noyes into the Con- 
tinental Bank, I gave him a check for a small amount, which 
he sent in by a commissioner for collection, with order to 
bring the money to him at the Cannon Street Hotel. I took 



AN ANCIENT HOSTEL. 73 

care to be in the bank when he arrived, that I might see what 
passed. The check was paid without demur, and he left the 
bank, I keeping him in view until he had passed the public 
house where Noyes was waiting for me. I hastened in and 
told him to go and get the money from the commissioner, 
which he did, then come to meet me at Garraway's, our usual 
place of rendezvous. Inasmuch as many generations of all 
nations visiting London, have been accustomed to resort to 
Garraway's coffee-house, for pleasure or business purposes, 
and as it was closed for the last time on Saturday, August 
11, 1876, a picture of this celebrated place may be of interest 
to the reader. 

At the time of the " South-Sea bubble," Dean Swift wrote 
the following lines regarding the brokers and their victims, 
the speculators, who were accustomed to congregate at 
Garraway's : 

There is a gulf where thousands fell, 

Here all the bold adventurers came, 
A narrow sound, though deep as hell — 

Change- alley is the dreadful name. 

Subscribers here by thousands float, 

And jostle one another down, 
Each paddling in his leaky boat, 

And here they fish for gold and drown. 

# # * * 

Meantime, secure on Garway cliffs, 

A savage race, by shipwrecks fed, 
Lie waiting for the founder'd skiffs, 

And strip the bodies of the dead. 

Dr. Radcliffe, a celebrated character, was a rash specula- 
tor in the South-Sea scheme, and could always be found dur- 
ing business hours planted at a table, to watch the turns of 
the share market, and to receive his patients, as was the 
custom in the last century with coffee-houses in general. 
One day he had invested five thousand guineas in one project, 
and upon being informed that he had lost it all, replied : 



74 "CHOPS AND TOMATO SAUCE." 

" Why, 'tis but going up five thousand pairs of stairs more." 
" This answer," says Sydney Smith, " deserves a statue." 

Coming down to later times, we find in Dickens's " Pick- 
wick Club," where Sergeant Buzfuz, in the case of Bardell vs. 
Pickwick, quotes the following letter : 

G-arra way's, twelve o'clock. 
Dear Mrs. B. : — Chops and tomato sauce. 

Yours, Pickwick. 

As some of my readers may be in a Pickwickian state of 
mind on the food question, I will reserve the account of the 
discovery of the great fraud, and the arrest of Noyes, for the 
next chapter. 




Chapter IX. 



SHE FRAUD DISCOVERED — NO YES ARRESTED — A CLEARANCE — AN IMPORTANT 
PIECE OF BLOTTING PAPER — FLIGHT OF MCDONALD — EXAMINATION OF NOTES 
AT THE MANSION HOUSE BEFORE LORD MAYOR WATERLOW — THE BANK SOLICI- 
TOR, C. K. FRESHFIELD, M. P. — DR. KENEALY. 

IT appears that when the last lot of bills arrived from 
Birmingham they were handed by the manager, as usual, 
to a clerk whose duty it was to look over and enter them in 
the books. In running them over, he threw out two on 
which the date of the acceptance had not been put. Suppos- 
ing this to,have been an oversight of the acceptors, no notice 
was taken of the irregularity beyond laying the bills aside, 
that the supposed neglect might be rectified. Accordingly, on 
the morning of the 1st of March, 1873, the bills were sent to 
B. W. Blydenstein (the supposed acceptor), and were at once 
declared to be forgeries. Instant measures were taken to 
arrest the perpetrators. This occurred just after we had sent 
the commissioner with a Horton check as related in the last 
chapter. 

Upon meeting Noyes at Garra way's I gave him Warren 
checks for seventy-five thousand dollars, with which he pur- 
chased United States bonds from Messrs. Jay Cooke & Co. I 
also gave him about thirty thousand dollars in Warren checks 
to deposit to the credit of the Horton account. After hav- 
ing accomplished that business, it only remained for him to 
withdraw the money from the Horton account, which would 
finish, and we be ready to leave the country with our booty. 

A quarter of an hour would end my anxieties ! 

It had been my intention to send a commissioner to draw 
the money, so that in the apparently impossible case of a dis- 



76 THE TROUBLE COMMENCES. 

covery Noyes would be safe from arrest. Should there be a 
premature " tumble " and we become aware of it in time, we 
could easily get him out of the country — he being the only 
one who was known to the bankers. But having just visited 
Jay Cooke & Co. and the Continental Bank, he justly felt cer- 
tain that all was right, and thought it would be best, and 
quite safe, for him to go and do the business in person instead 
of sending a commissioner. 

We had previously sent commissioners for large sums in 
bonds, etc. ; but in such cases they had acted only as mes- 
sengers, not knowing the value of the packages they carried. 
The checks we had sent by them were for small sums, and 
now to send one to draw $ 30,000 might cause inquiry at the 
Continental Bank. For these reasons I concluded to let 
Noyes have his own way. Had I known what was at that 
moment passing not a stone's throw from where we sat in 
Garraway's, my thoughts would have been of quite a different 
nature. After the discovery, as related, the telegraph was 
set to work, and detectives procured from the Bow Street 
police station, which was but a short distance from where we 
sat discussing our next and last move — the last indeed ! 
They went to the Continental, Horton's bank, and waited to 
meet Noyes as he came in about one o'clock p. M. to draw the 
money. He was arrested and taken to Bow Street station, 
the party passing close by me on the way, of course neither 
Noyes or I taking any notice of each other. As I had fore- 
seen and provided for this possible contingency, the occur- 
rence did not alarm me, for I knew that if all my precautions 
had been lived up to, no harm beyond temporary inconvenience 
could come to Noyes, and not the slightest clue be obtained 
to connect Mac or myself with the fraud. Austin, the only 
other one known to the bankers, was, as I supposed, safe 
in the United States ; therefore, as I felt secure that no infor- 
mation would be got out of Noyes, all we had to do was to lie 
quietly in London until the furore of excitement was a little 
cooled, and then to make our way out of the country at our 




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7 



AN ILL-TIMED REMOVAL. 79 

leisure. Notwithstanding these seemingly impregnable 
plans and precautions, and as a striking example of how 
crime comes to light, it will be interesting to have the causes 
which nullified the execution of the ideas outlined in the last 
sentence. 

During the operation Mac occupied lodgings in an aristo- 
cratic quarter, St. James Place, Piccadilly. There all the bills 
were made. When the last lot was ready, I made away with 
and destroyed by burning or otherwise, the articles used in 
their manufacture. 

As soon as Noyes was arrested,- 1 went to Mac's rooms and 
made a clearance. As I was about to put all the waste 
papers in the fire Mac said he had some letters to write and 
masked me to leave a piece of blotting paper. I selected a 
piece that appeared not to have been used and laid it aside for 
liim — a fatal concession, as will be seen in the account of the 
trial, showing what telling use was made of it. I was less 
particular in the clearance because when I represented to him 
the danger of an American moving from his lodgings at such 
a juncture, he agreed to remain quietly there. Then judge of 
my astonishment later in the day, when he said to me at Gar- 
raway's : " Well, I've got all my things out of that place, 
anyway." It was too late to repair so false a step, and he 
assured me that he had not left a scrap of paper behind. Sub- 
sequent events showed that his landlady saw in a paper an 
account of the forgery and arrest of Noyes, and coupling it 
with her lodger's precipitate flight — he having previously 
given no notice of his intention to leave — her suspicions were 
aroused ; she went directly to the rooms and gathered up 
every loose bit of paper she could find, among which the only 
thing that proved of special value was the piece of blotting- 
paper, and sent word to the police station. 

Mac paid the penalty of this thoughtless act as this piece of 
blotter proved to be the principal, if not the only direct link, 
which connected him with the forgery. 

I had occasion to part from Mac for an hour, and on my 



80 



MAC'S FLIGHT. 



return at about six P. M., found a note written by him, stating 
that he had just time to catch the last evening train for Dover. 
He really went to Liverpool ; but becoming suspicious, doubled 
on the police, ran to Chester, from there crossed the country 
by way of Taunton to Southampton, crossed to Havre, from 
which place he managed to get on board the steamship 
Thuringia, and sailed for New York. 




MANSION HOUSE, ILLUMINATED. 



This unexpected departure disconcerted my plans com- 
pletely. The effect it had on my future proceedings will be 
detailed in the chapters relating to my flight through Ireland* 
and beyond. 



Chapter X 



HUNTED THROUGH IRELAND — $2,500 REWARD FOR MY CAPTURE — DETECTIVES 
"SPOT " ME AT THE CORK RAILWAY STATION — OBLIGED TO ABANDON TAKING 
PASSAGE BY THE ILL-FATED ATLANTIC — A GAME OF " HARE AND HOUNDS " — 
ELUDING A DETECTIVE " TRAP " — ENGLISH MISRULE IN IRELAND — AM TAKEN 
FOR A PRIEST — A TYPOGRAPHICAL THUNDERBOLT AT LISMORE —AN EARLY 
MORNING WALK — A- RIDE ON AN IRISH JAUNTING-CAR — " ON THE ROAD TO 
CLONMEL " — SHELTER IN A " SHEBEEN " — HOW THIRSTY SOULS GET THE 
"CRAYTHUR" IN IRELAND — A GOOD OLD IRISH LADY — PURSUIT, AND REFUGE 
IN A RUINED COTTAGE AT CAHIR. 

WITHOUT the remotest suspicion that my right name 
was known, or that anything had been discovered to 
show my connection with the fraud, I resolved to take the 
steamer Atlantic of the White Star Line, at Queenstown, for 
New York. Knowing that all the railway stations in London 
were being watched, and that any man buying a ticket for 
America might have to give an account of himself, I sent a 
porter to purchase a ticket for Dublin via Holyhead. I in- 
tended taking the 9 P. M. mail train, and, as a precaution, I 
waited until the last moment, after the passengers were on 
board and the waiting-room doors shut. As the mail was 
being transferred from the wagons to the train, I took the 
opportunity to walk through the big gate unobserved amid 
the rush and confusion. The car doors were all locked, but 
on showing m^ ticket to a guard (conductor) he let me into 
a compartment, no doubt supposing that I had obtained 
admission to the station from the waiting-room and had been 
loitering about. The same was probably the case with the 
two or three other men looking out of the waiting-room win- 
dow at the platform, whom I judged to be detectives. The 
train rolled out of the station, and soon I was leaving London 



82 ALMOST "CORKED." 

behind at the rate of fifty miles an hour. After midnight we 
took the steamer at Holyhead and arrived at Dublin about 
seven a. m. I should not have felt so comfortable throughout 
this night's journey had I known that the telegraph was flash- 
ing in all directions : 

a £500 reward for the capture of George Bid well, who is sup- 
posed to be one of the persons engaged in the great bank forgery. 
He is an American, about forty years of age, of dark complexion, 
and is supposed to be in Ireland." 

A whole column regarding myself and my transactions was 
published in the Dublin papers of that morning. Not suspect- 
ing they contained "news" regarding me, I neglected pur- 
chasing one, and remaining ignorant of my imminent danger, 
took the train for Cork, where I arrived about four p. m. I had 
two or three London papers of the previous day in my hand 
as I left the station. I had never been in Cork until then, 
and as I passed into the street two detectives, who were 
watching the passengers, turned and followed me. A few 
yards from the station one of them stepped up by my side 
and said : 

" Have you ever been here before ? " 

I slightly turned my head toward him, gave a haughty 
glance as I replied, "Yes," — then looked straight ahead 
and continued my slow gait, paying no further attention to 
him. He continued walking by my side for a few steps, as if 
irresolute, then dropped to the rear, rejoining his companion. 
I did not dare to look around, or make inquiry as to the 
location of the wharf from which the tug-boat started to con- 
vey mail and passengers to the New York steamers, which 
waited in the outer harbor. Therefore I continued my walk 
along what appeared to be the main business street, perhaps 
for a quarter of a mile, then turned into a druggist's and 
called for some Spanish licorice. This was done to enable 
me to ascertain if the detectives were still following. In a 
moment they passed the shop gazing intently in, and saw me 
leaning carelessly against the counter with my face partially 



NOT BORN TO BE DROWNED. 83 

turned to the street. As soon as I had paid for the licorice, 
I continued my walk in the same direction, but saw nothing 
of the men, they having evidently stopped in some place to 
let me get ahead once more. In a short time I approached 
an inclosure, over the gate of which was a sign that informed 
me I had come by accident direct to the wharf of the New 
York steamers. Entering I found the place crowded, and the 
tug-boat ready to convey the passengers to the steamer Atlan- 
tic. Before attempting to step aboard the tug I took a covert 
look around and saw my two detectives standing back in one 
corner with their eyes fixed upon me all but their heads being 
concealed behind the crowd waiting to see their friends off 
for America. Apparently unconscious of their presence, I 
threw my papers, one by one down among the passengers ; 
and as the deck of the boat was eight or ten feet below, the 
detectives could not see to whom they were thrown. I stood 
leaning on the rail a short time gazing at the scene, then left 
the wharf not even glancing in the direction of the detectives. 
I felt that any attempt of mine to embark would precipitate 
their movements, therefore I at once abandoned all ideas of 
taking passage from Queenstown. 

Now mark the irony of fate ! That was the last passage 
ever made by the magnificent steamer Atlantic ! Some mag- 
netic influence deranged her compass so that she ran twenty 
miles out of her course, striking on the coast of Nova Scotia, 
at Meager's Head, Prospect Harbor, broke in two, then rolling 
into deep water, sank in a few minutes. Out of 1002 persons 
on board 560 perished, including most of the saloon passen- 
gers and all the women and children. The elegant cabins 
and state-rooms became their tombs — and one might have 
been mine. But not for me such favoring fate ; a moment's 
struggle ended their sufferings, while I was left to undergo 
the pangs of a thousand deaths ! 

I continued my walk up a hill among the private resi- 
dences of the city, and hailing a cab told the driver to take 
me back to the station. Eager for a job, he asked to drive 



84 A PRETTY GIRL SAYS "NO." 

me a mile beyond on the railway. Thinking I might elude 
the detectives at the Queenstown station, I acceded and he 
made his little Irish horse rush along at a pace which brought 
us to the stopping-place just before the train arrived. 

I purchased a ticket and hastened into a carriage, where, 
lo and behold ! sat the two detectives. A few minutes brought 
us to Cork again. I was not yet aware they were in possession 
of my right name and the knowledge that a reward of five 
hundred pounds was offered for my capture, nor that their 
hesitation was occasioned by doubts as to my identity, which 
the first false step on my part might remove. I did not sup- 
pose they were looking especially for me, but for any one in 
general whose actions and appearance might indicate that he 
was one of the operators in the bank forgery. Under this 
erroneous belief, I crossed to the Dublin station, which was a 
quarter of a mile from that of the Cork and Queenstown, to 
inquire for a dispatch that I expected from London to the 
name of Bodell. When I stepped up to the telegraph-counter 
and gave the name, the pretty girl in charge looked at me in 
a very " speaking " manner, and without making examination 
replied, " No." As I turned away, I saw my two detectives 
standing at the other side of the room. "Well," I thought 
to myself, " this is very strange ; I left the Queenstown sta- 
tion ahead of them, and here they are again, all alive." I 
walked away into the most thronged streets of the business 
part of the city ; turning a corner, I glanced backwards and 
saw them following at some distance in the rear. As soon 
as I had fairly turned the corner, I started at a fast walk, 
turning the next before they came in view ; and after three or 
four such turnings I went into a small temperance hotel and 
took lodgings for the night. There was but a single com- 
mercial traveler in the sitting-room — a special room set apart 
in every English hotel, sacred to the " drummer " fraternity. 
In the course of the evening he handed me a small railway 
map of Ireland, which, in my subsequent flight through the 
country, proved of incalculable service to me. 



A SCOTCH CAP AND AN IRISH CAR. 85 

The next morning I went out and purchased a hand-bag, 
a Scotch cap, and a cheap, frieze ulster. My night's cogita- 
tions had not enabled me to solve the detective problem, but 
I felt confident that something was decidedly wrong. I then 
hired a covered cab, driving past the post-office to reconnoiter, 
and saw one of the detectives standing in the door-way. This 
sight deterred me from going in to ask for a letter. Dismiss- 
ing my cab, I took another and drove to the place where I 
had made my purchases, taking them into the cab, and going 
through a by -street which brought me close to my hotel. 

From the commercial-room in the second floor front, I 
looked out and marked the farthest house I could see to the 
left, on the opposite side. Stepping to the desk, I wrote an 
order directing the postmaster to deliver any letters to my 
(Bodell's) address to the bearer. This I gave to a cabman, 
instructing him to drive to the post-office and bring my mail 
to the house I had marked, returning myself to the commer- 
cial-room to watch. In a few minutes I saw the cabman 
drive to the house, and seeing no one waiting there, he turned 
and drove slowly down the street past the hotel, holding up 
at arm's length a letter to attract my notice — which it did to 
my two detectives walking along a short distance behind him, 
on the hotel side of the street, with noses elevated and eyes 
peering everywhere. 

" Well," I thought, " this is getting to be hot, and it is 
time for me to 'skip' Cork." I was now fully aroused to a 
sense of my danger. No one happening to be in the com- 
mercial-room for the moment, I left my hat on the sofa, and 
wearing the Scotch cap, slipped downstairs just as they were 
past the hotel, following them until I came to where the cab 
was waiting with my luggage. I ordered the driver to take 
me to a canal-boat wharf, where I dismissed him ; then, with 
bag in hand, I walked -across the canal bridge, stopped in a 
small shop and hired a smaller boy to go for a jaunting-car, 
and a few minutes later I was rolling to the northward. 

On the road 1 threw some small coins to poor-looking 



86 RESULTS OF ENGLISH OPPRESSION. 

people, who then, as now, comprised among their numbers 
the most honest patriots and the truest-hearted sons of Erin. 
While gazing upon the mud huts and turf cottages which 
constituted, with but few exceptions, the abiding-places of a 
poverty-stricken people, I could not help apostrophizing thus : 
" To what a state of degradation has not English misrule and 
oppression, long continued, brought the noble Celtic race ? 
Doubtless over this very road many a humble Irish peasant 
has been hunted to the death at a time when it was only 
necessary for his English murderer to offer in defense, before 
a jury composed of his own countrymen, that he had only 
killed an Irishman; where life was no more valued by the 
English of that time than are now the lives of the convicts 
in the English prisons." How low that valuation is may be 
judged by the words spoken to me by the chief warder of 
Dartmoor prison, in 1877 : " We think no more of killing a 
convict than we do of killing a dog; indeed, we value the life 
of a good dog above that of a convict." 

Seeing me throwing the pence to the poor folk, cabby took 
it into his head that I must be a priest — a good criterion of 
the estimation in which the benevolence of the Fathers is held 
by their own people. And I may here remark that all the 
Catholic priests I have known, occupying the post of chaplain 
to the convicts of that religion, were without exception faith- 
ful and entirely devoted to the duties of their holy callings 
speaking fearlessly to the authorities whenever Catholic pris- 
oners were being wrongly treated by the warders. I had no 
intention of traveling as a priest, and when I told the driver 
as much he would not believe it, but insisted that I was really 
a priest traveling incognito ; therefore, when we stopped at a 
small, wayside tavern, about twelve miles from Cork and two 
to Fermoy, he privately informed the mistress that I was a 
priest who did not want the fact to become known. Accord- 
ingly the good woman treated me with marked attention 
during my short stay. It was then nearly sunset, and as I 
did not wish the cabman to get back to Cork until late at 



A "COUP DE TONNE RRE." 8T 

night, I kept him eating and drinking until dark, when I paid 
the bill and started him homeward, uproariously rejoicing. I 
then started for Fermoy station, about two miles distant,, 
taking the hostler along to carry my bag. When within 
half a mile of the village I let him return. While passing 
through the village I went into a shop and purchased a differ- 
ent Scotch cap, the " Glengary." 

Arriving at the station, I noticed a man near the ticket- 
office who appeared to be watching those who were purchasing 
tickets. This made me change my plan — instead of taking 
a ticket to Dublin, I bought one for Lismore, the end of the 
road in the opposite direction. The exclamation, " Well, are 
you going to stay all night ? " was the first intimation I had 
of our arrival at that place. I rubbed my sleepy eyes, and 
saw with dismay that all the passengers were gone, and one 
of the porters was putting out the lights. At the platform I 
found a cab, and by nine p. m. I was at the Lismore House. 

After eating supper I entered the sitting-room, finding a 
single occupant whom I took to be a lawyer ; and, judging by 
his conversation and manner, in the light of later events, I 
do not doubt that he surmised who I was. He was reading a 
newspaper, which he once or twice offered to me ; but not 
dreaming of the interesting nature of its contents, I declined 
to take it from him. About ten P. M. the gentleman retired, 
leaving his paper on the table. I carelessly picked it up, and 
the first thing that caught my eyes was a displayed heading 
in large type : 

500 pounds reward for the capture of George Bidwell, who is 
in Ireland. He cannot escape, for all the stations are watched and 
the seaports guarded. The whole constabulary and detective force 
of the country are after him (etc.) 

A thunderbolt, indeed ! For a few minutes I stared at 
the paper in blank dismay. It was fortunate for my tem- 
porary safety that there were no witnesses present. " Well," 
I thought to myself, " this is a predicament ! How did they 



88 "PARALYZED." 

obtain my right name ? I thought I had covered up the 
whole affair so deep in mystery that not a clue to our per- 
sonality could oe ootained; and here in this paper appears 
the whole business as correctly as if I had told them myself! 
There has been carelessness or treachery somewhere ! " 

I sat for an hour alone in this Lisnlore Hotel, utterly 
dumbfounded, bewildered, paralyzed. I had experienced 
some shocks, some " take-downs," in my time, but never 
one to compare with this. After priding myself in having 
laid a plan and managed an operation to lighten the plethoric 
money-bags of the most gigantic financial institution in ail 
the world - — one that never has less than $60,000,000 in its 
impregnable vaults — an institution which boasted that its 
system of transacting business had become so perfect that 
it was secure from the attempts of the designing, yet had 
permitted me and my assistants to carry off its bags of gold 
ad libitum, — here I was in such a fix, and everything sup- 
posed to have been so carefully hidden, so deeply buried, that 
nothing less than superhuman genius could unearth it, had 
come to the surface as by the touch of a magic wand in the 
hands of a prestidigitateur. 

Arousing myself from a state of mental stupefaction 
hitherto unknown, I began to realize the necessity of imme- 
diate action if I wished to avoid falling into the merciless jaws 
of the British Lion. I put the paper into the fire, and retired 
to the room allotted to me. For the first time I fully real- 
ized how far I had departed from the principles inculcated by 
my father and mother. For the first time I saw myself on 
the verge of the yawning gulf toward which I had been almost 
imperceptibly gliding ever since the day of my fatal meeting 
with Frank Kibbe in Baltimore. 

Before daylight in the morning I had decided upon the 
first step, and as the lawyer had asked me if I intended to 
remain over Sunday, I resolved to be as far away as possible 
before he was out of bed. While it was yet dark in the house, 
I left my bag in the bedroom and crept gently down the stairs 



BEHIND A BLOODED IRISH HORSE. 89 

to the basement, where the porter-hostler was sleeping in a 
box of rags. I suppose the poor wretch had not long finished 
Iris multifarious duties, for 1 could arouse him only to a state 
•of semi-consciousness, and could get no information from 
him. I then went up to the front door, carefully turned the 
key and stepped out on the piazza which, ran along the front 
of the hotel. Another shock was in store for me. A man 
posted on the other side of the street was watching the hotel I 

It was now quite light, and I sauntered carelessly up the 
street, apparently taking no notice of the man over the way, 
and endeavoring to show by my actions that I was out for an 
airing before breakfast. 

As I turned the next corner and glanced back, I saw him 
following. I noticed a place where jaunting-cars were to be 
let, but passed on, at each turn glancing back to see my fol- 
lower the same distance in the rear. I now took a circuit 
around by the hotel, but instead of going in, I hastened and 
turned the next corner beyond — he, when reaching the corner 
near the hotel, not seeing me, doubtless thought I had gone 
in, and planted himself in his old position. I thought Lis- 
more to be getting rather hot, and hastening to the livery 
stable, found the hostler just getting up. He informed me 
that all the horses were engaged for the day (Sunday, March 
9, 1873) except one, the fastest they had, but as this was 
engaged for a long journey on Tuesday, they were letting him 
have a rest. I said : " But, my good' fellow, I must have a 
horse, and at once, with you to drive, and there will be a half 
sovereign for a good Irishman, such as I see before me." My 
u blarney " began to do its work. Scratching his head, he 
finally said : " Well, I will waken up my master, and you can 
talk with him." So he rapped at a window, and soon a 
night-capped head appeared, and after some parley the master 
consented to let me his equipage. In a few minutes from the 
time I had lost sight of my follower we were rattling out of 
the town of Lismore at the full speed of a blooded Irish horse. 
I had left my bag behind, taking only the Scotch caps and 



90 WET OUT-DOORS AND "WET" INSIDE. 

ulster with me from the hotel. I found, by reference to the 
small map and railway guide, that Clonmel was les& than 
thirty miles distant, and connected with Dublin by a branch 
line. When I engaged the jaunting-car, I had told the owner 
that it was uncertain what part of the day I should require it, 
and after we were about five miles from Lismore I said to the 
driver : 

" You say that you are going to Clonmel on Tuesday for a 
passenger. Well, now, as I must go there before I leave this- 
part of the country, you may as well continue in that direc- 
tion, and I can return with you on Tuesday." 

This pleased him, and we drove on till about noon, when 
we stopped at a country grocery about five miles from Clon- 
mel. As we drove up to the door, the words of an old Irish 
song went jingling through my brain : 

" At the sign of the bell, 
On the road to Clonmel, 

Pat Flagherty kept a neat shebeen." 

The rain poured down in torrents. I gave my driver a 
lunch of bread and cheese, which — of course there — included 
whisky. I also gave him a sovereign, telling him to pay his 
master for the horse-hire and keep the change for himself ; 
then started him back brim full of delight and the " craythur," 
receiving his parting salute : 

" Yer 'onor is a jintleman, and no mistake." 

I arranged with the store-keeper to let a boy take me in 
his car to Clonmel. 

" The Green Isle !" Well, I found out that day what keeps 
the grass green in Ireland. My Irish frieze and every thread 
on me were water-logged, yet the Irish lad, my driver, took 
the " buckets-full " as a matter of course. Amidst this deluge 
of rain, we arrived in Clonmel and stopped at a " shebeen," 
kept by the boy's uncle — driving into the back yard through 
a gate in a board-fence fifteen feet high, which shut it in from 
the street. 

I went into a room in the rear of the sale-room, the door 



QUESTIONED BY THE PROPRIETRESS. 91 

of which stood open so that I could see all that passed within ; 
and, as I stood drying my clothes by the turf fire, I saw how 
thirsty souls on the " ould sod," evaded the Sunday liquor 
law. The proprietor stood in the shop in a position whence 
he could covertly keep an eye on the policeman patrolling the 
street, and as soon as he was out of sight, a signal was given, 
the back-yard gate thrown open, when a dozen men rushed 
in, and the gate closed. Coming hilariously through the 
dwelling into the shop, these were soon busily drinking their 
"" potheen," laughing and boasting about how cunningly they 
liad " done the cowardly informer of a policeman." 

It was now two o'clock p. m. ; the rain had ceased, and 
starting out, I walked along a main street until I saw a sign, 
"" Cabs to let." I went into the house and was shown into an 
inner room, where the proprietress sat crooning over a turf 
fire. She motioned me to a seat beside her, and when I told 
lier I wished for a conveyance to take me to Cahir, a place 
-eight miles distant, she asked me several questions, among 
others, how long I wished to be gone, and if I were not an 
American. To all of which, I replied to the following effect : 
That I was going to visit some friends who were officers 
stationed in the fort at Cahir ; and as to her mistaking me for 
an American, the ancestors of the " Yankees " went from 
about Norfolk county, England, to America, of course taking 
the accent with them, and I being from the former place 
(Norfolk) of course had the same accent. 

This explanation appeared to satisfy the old lady, and she 
became quite confidential ; and, anxious to remove from my 
mind any trace of offense at her unusual questioning, she 
drew closer to me and said : 

" I can see that you are all right ; but, the fact is, that 
the captain of police sent an order that I should notify 
him at once, in case any stranger wished to hire a vehicle, 
especially if I thought him an American. But I do not care 
for the curs ; they are nothing but a parcel of spies and 
informers in the pay of the English government ; so even if 



92 THE COTTAGE BY THE FORT. 

you were the one they are looking for, they will wait a long" 
time for me to inform them, and you shall have my best horse 
and a good driver." 

I heartily thanked the good old Irish lady — for I have 
found true ladies and gentlemen among the poor and humble 
as well as the wealthy, especially in Ireland — and in a few 
minutes I was bowling gaily along toward Cahir. 

This is a small, ancient, walled garrison town, the nearest 
railway station being at Clonmel. This miniature city has- 
been the scene of many a heart-stirring event in the distant 
paSt. Here Cromwell was for a time held at bay, and his. 
fanatical hordes made their Celtic opponents pay in blood for 
their patriotic and desperate defense of their homes and 
firesides. 

Driving through the town gate, I saw in the main street a 
grocery store with a blind down, and telling the driver to halt 
there, I paid him and sent him back. I then went into the 
grocery, and after taking a lunch of bread and cheese, con- 
tinued my walk up the street. I saw a hotel just ahead, but 
not wishing to attract attention to my movements, I crossed to 
the opposite side, and while doing so, glanced back and saw a 
car come through the same town gate I had just entered, and 
dash furiously up the street, pulling up at the walk a few 
yards behind me. Just as they sprang out, I turned to the 
left into a narrow lane in which I saw a gateway to the fort r 
just within the entrance of which a sentry was pacing, there 
being opposite several roofless cottages. The soldier's back 
being turned, quick as thought I sprang unseen within one of 
these, and in a moment I heard some men run around the 
corner and interrogate the soldier, who stoutly declared that 
no one had entered. The men then demanded to see the cap- 
tain, were admitted, and after a short time I heard them 
come out and depart. I stood in that ruin two mortal hours- 
until dusk, then walked out unseen by the sentry, and turning 
to the left, came into a narrow street lined with small dwell- 
ing houses. 



Chapter XI 



AN UNCEREMONIOUS CALL — " I AM A FENIAN LEADER " — A " STORY " TOLD IN TOT? 
DARK — MALOY HELPS MY ESCAPE ON AN IRISH JAUNTING-CAR — EGGS— A 
POLICEMAN ANXIOUS TO OBTAIN THE FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD — DUBLIN 
AGAIN — A JEWESS'S BLESSING — I TURN RUSSIAN, AND LATER BECOME A FRENCH- 
MAN — BELFAST DETECTIVES — ESCAPE INTO SCOTLAND — THE OTHER SIDE OF 
THE STORY — A BOW-STREET DETECTIVE'S ADVENTURES WHILE HUNTING ME 
THROUGH IRELAND — CROSS-QUESTIONING MY JAUNTING-CAR DRIVER — A 
" COLD WATER CURE " — HOT ON THE TRAIL — NOT IN THE FORT — A FRUITLESS- 
HUNT — MANY INNOCENTS ARRESTED — MALOY BECOMES A "KNOW-NOTHING." 

CROSSING the narrow street in Cahir, referred to at the 
close of the last chapter, I went in hap-hazard at the 
first door, without knocking, and saw a family eating their 
humble supper. As I walked in I addressed the family at 
the table thus: 

" Good evening. Pardon my intrusion, and do not dis- 
turb yourselves ; but by all means finish your supper." 

" Good evening, sir," was the reply from the man, whom I 
will call Maloy. " We are glad to see you ; will you sit by 
and have pot-luck with us ? " 

"No, thank you," I answered. "I am an American — 
and it is my custom when traveling in any country to make 
unceremonious calls like this, in order to see the people as- 
they really are at home." 

After supper was over I related to Maloy and his family 
several stories and incidents concerning the Fenians and their 
doings in America, which of course interested them greatly. 
When it was fairly dark I arose to go, and Maloy went out- 
side with me. He had previously informed me that he was 
employed by the government in the civil service I will not 
state in what capacity, for although so many years have 



94 



MY FRIEND MALOY. 



elapsed, the true-hearted Irishman may still be earning his 
bread in the same humble employment, and the knowledge 
that he assisted one whom he supposed to be a Fenian leader 
in 1873 might even now cost him dearly. If what he did was 
discovered at the time, and he suffered in consequence — • 
should he be still alive, or if not, his wife or children — it 
would give me great pleasure to hear from the family, and to 
render them such aid as is now in my power. I am sure they 
cannot have forgotten me. When we were outside the door I 
said: 

" The. fact is, Maloy, I am a Fenian leader, and the police 
are after me ! I have been dodging them for two days, and 
they are looking for me now in Cahir! I have important 
papers for prominent Fenians in various parts of Ireland, and 
it would delay our plans if I am obliged to destroy them. 
But I fear I must do so at once, unless you can help me. I 
would almost sooner forfeit my life than to lose these papers, 
and I shall fight to my last breath rather than let them fall 
into the hands of the police, for it might be the ruin of 
several good men ! My plan is to double back to Clonmel, 
and I want your assistance to get me out of Cahir ! " 

" 0, sir," he replied " it is too bad you did not let me 
know a little sooner, for the mail-car is gone ; it starts at six 
o'clock." 

Just as he finished speaking, a car came rumbling past, 
and he exclaimed joyfully : 

" We are in luck ! There goes the mail-car to the post- 
office ! Come with me ! " 

We hastened through a narrow, dark lane to the gate — 
the same I had entered from Clonmel — walked through and 
at a hundred yards beyond waited for the mail-car, which soon 
came along. Maloy being well acquainted with the driver, 
hailed him. saying that a friend of his wanted a ride to 
Clonmel. 

After shaking hands warmly with Maloy, I climbed upon 
the car, and the next instant I was whirling along — into 
fresh dangers — in that unique vehicle, an Irish jaunting-car. 



AMERICAN-ENGLISH TABOOED. 95 

Arriving near Clonmel I saw a tavern, and ascertaining 
from the driver that it was near the railway station, I left the 
oar and entered the place, only to find that the best, and in 
fact the sole food to be had for supper was eggs. Having 
iDeen on the move since dawn, after a sleepless night, and 
almost without food, I hesitate to divulge how many eggs I 
disposed of that evening, for the statement might tend to 
throw distrust on the general veracity of my narrative. Hav- 
ing dried my wet clothes and put myself into a presentable 
condition, I went to the railway station to take the eleven 
p. m. train to Dublin. Seating myself on a bench outside, I 
handed some money to a porter and sent him for a ticket, 
v^hich he obtained. There were but a few waiting about, so I 
stepped into the small waiting-room and sat down near three 
other men. The one nearest, whom I at once put down for a 
local policeman in private clothes, turned and spoke to me. 
I replied with civility to his questions until finally he said : 
■" But, are you not an American ? " I replied to his startling 
question in such a manner that he appeared satisfied. 

"You must excuse me, sir, for questioning you," he ex- 
plained, " but there has been a great forgery in London, and 
it is said some of the parties are in Ireland, and I am anxious 
to get a claim on the 500 pounds that is offered for each one 
of them." I told him that instead of being offended, I was 
greatly pleased to see the zeal ■ he exhibited in the execution 
of his duties, and expressed the hope that he might be suc- 
cessful in securing at least one of the forgers, which would 
give him not only the 500 pounds, but undoubtedly promo- 
tion. 1 got on the train all right, resolving that I would not 
speak another word of English while in Ireland, and forthwith 
turned into a Russian, who could speak ".une veree leetel 
Froncais," confident that I should not be in danger of expos- 
ure by encounter with any one who could speak the Russian 
language. I threw away the ordinary Scotch cap I had boon 
wearing, and put on the Glengary. When I arrived at the 
Maryborough junction, the train on the main line from Cork 



96 SECOND-HAND GOODS. 

was late, and I walked up and down on the platform, well- 
knowing that the detectives would scrutinize more closely 
those who appeared to shrink from observation ; therefore I 
affected the bearing of a Russian prince as nearly as I knew 
how. 

I got on the train unmolested, and arrived in Dublin at 
one a. M. 

There appeared to be some special watching of those 
leaving the train, but I passed out unchallenged and took a 
cab. Not knowing the name of any hotel, I told the driver I 
would direct the route as we passed along, and he drove away 
at a great pace. Very soon I noticed another cab following 
at an equal speed. I had mine turn a corner, but the one 
behind came thundering after ; and though I bade my driver 
to turn at nearly every corner, still I could not shake off 
my supposed pursuer until, after apparently being followed 
about two miles, the stern-chaser turned off in another direc- 
tion, much to my relief. We soon approached the Cathedral 
Hotel, where I alighted about two a. m., rang up the porter,, 
and was shown to a room. 

At seven o'clock in the morning I sent for my bill, left 
the hotel, went direct to the " Jew " quarter, and purchased 
a valise and some second-hand clothes. Noticing the old 
Jewess's looks of curiosity at seeing one of my appearance 
making such purchases, I remarked: "A Fenian friend has 
got himself into a scrape, and the police are after him ; so I 
am going to get him out of "the country, and wish to let him 
have some things that do not have too new a look." At 
hearing those (in Ireland) magic words, "Fenian," "police," 
she became all smiles, let me fill the valise with old garments 
at my own price, and at parting said : " God bless you ! May 
you have good luck, and get him off safe to America !" 

I then went to a more pretentious locality, where I pro- 
cured a silk hat draped with mourning crape, put the Glen- 
gary in my pocket, and became a Frenchman. At this 
moment I discovered that I had left in my room at the hotel 



" G. B." 97 

a large silk neck-wrapper on which were embroidered the 
initials " G. B." I immediately stepped into a shop and left 
my new purchases, resuming the Scotch cap, and started for 
the hotel (where I had given no name) to secure the danger- 
ous article left behind. Coming in sight of the hotel, I saw 
a man stationed opposite, leaning on a cane, who appeared to 
be watching the house. As I approached nearer he kept his 
eyes covertly fixed upon me ; therefore, instead of entering 
the hotel, I walked past it and turned the next corner, glanc- 
ing backward as I did so, and, to my dismay, saw the man 
following me. I now adopted the same plan of action that 
succeeded so well at Cork, and in a half-hour I had shaken 
him off and returned to the place where I had left my new 
silk hat and valise. Donning the hat, with valise in hand, 1 
was soon seated in an Irish jaunting-car, on my way to a 
station about ten miles out on the railway to Belfast. 

Upon reflection, I was satisfied that the chambermaid had 
found the silk wrapper and taken it to the hotel office. There 
the initials, together with the knowledge of my arrival at so 
unusual an hour, without baggage, and my early departure, 
had aroused the suspicion that I was the George Bidwell of 
the newspapers, and the police had been notified at once. At 
about eleven a. m. I arrived at the station, and going into a 
store, paid my Dublin cabman, and called for a lunch. About 
five minutes before the train was due from Dublin, I walked 
into the empty station, presented myself at the ticket-office, 
and said, " Parlez vous Franc,ais, Monsieur ? " and received 
the reply, " No." I then said, in a mongrel of French and 
English, that I wished for a ticket to Drogheda — not daring 
to purchase one through to Belfast. Supposing me to be a 
French gentleman, he was very polite and ordered the porter 
to take my baggage to the platform. There I found myself 
the solitary waiting passenger. As the train approached, I 
saw a pair of heads projecting from the carriage windows, 
eagerly scanning the platform. Two men jumped off, and 
hastening to the station-master, began to talk to him in an 



^^^^^ 



98 PERSECUTION OF INNOCENTS. 

excited manner, all the time glancing toward me. As I 
passed near the group to get on the train, I heard the agent 
say : " He is a Frenchman." No doubt he informed them 
that I had purchased a ticket to a way-station only — a fact 
that would naturally allay suspicion. At the next stopping- 
place they actually arrested a man, but went no further. 

I afterward ascertained that twelve men were arrested on 
that and the preceding day, among the number being a fraud- 
ulent debtor trying to escape to America by the same steamer 
— the Atlantic. 

The following extracts from contemporary newspapers 
will give the reader some idea as to what a " hot " place 
Ireland was for me : 

[By cable to the New York Herald.'] 

London, March 18, 1873. 

Three shabbily dressed men, who from their accent are believed 
to be Americans, were arrested in Cork, Ireland, this morning, 
while attempting to deposit $12,000 in that city. 

They are supposed' to be the parties who recently committed the 
frauds on the Bank of England. 

[From the London Times of same date.] 

To Editor of "Times": 

Sir, — The case of Dr. Hessel has been so lately before the pub- 
lic, and so much has been written both in the English and German 
papers against the English police, that probably a little evidence 
upon the procedure of the German (or, I ought probably to say, the 
Bavarian) may not be uninteresting at the present moment. My- 
self and son, a sub-lieutenant, R. N., made a great effort to reach 
the grotesque old city of Nuremburg on Saturday last, 8th March, 
arriving there about seven p. m. We were asked to put our names 
in the stranger's book, as usual, which we did, and retired to bed. 
Imagine our surprise, on rising on Sunday morning, at receiving a 
visit from one of the chief police officers requesting us to " legitimize 
ourselves." I asked him his object for making this demand, when 
he replied that a man named "Horton" was wanted by the English 
police. 

In vain I showed him an old passport and letters addressed to 



''THOSE YANKEES." 99 

me, showing that my name was Hutton; he informed me that I 
could not leave my room, and placed two policemen at the door. 
At one o'clock I remembered an influential inhabitant of the town 
who knew me, and I sent for him. He at once went to head- 
quarters and gave bond for me to a large amount, and at six o'clock 
in the evening myself and son were released. You will remember 
that in the case of Dr. Hessel four persons swore to his identity 
before he was deprived of his liberty. In my case a similar name 
to that required was sufficient to deprive me of mine. 

I have since received, thanks to the strenuous and prompt 
action of the British Minister at Munich, a very ample apology in 
writing for the blunder that had been committed. It is signed by 
the Burgermeister of the city, and as the intelligence of this worthy 
seems to be equaled by his simplicity, he sends me_a safe pass to 
protect me in my further travels, in case Hutton should again be 
considered the same as Horton. I remain, sir, 
Your obedient servant, 

Chas. W. C. Hutton, 
Ex-Sheriff, London and Middlesex. 

Frankfort-on-the-Maine, March 15, 1&73. 

I now return to my narrative. In the second-class com- 
partment where I sat were two burly, loud-talking, well- 
informed farm proprietors, one of whom had imbibed a little 
too freely of the native distillation. The sober one had just 
finished reading a column article on the " Great Bank For- 
gery " to his lively companion, who at length turned and 
addressed me. I answered him politely in broken French, 
and he then went on to give his opinion of the bank affair, as 
nearly as I can remember, as follows: 

" You, being a Frenchman, don't understand about our 
great bank ; but I tell you those Yankees did a mighty thing 
when they attacked that powerful institution. The one they 
have got penned up here in Ireland can't possibly escape: 
indeed, according to the newspapers, he is already in the 
hands of the police. I am almost sorry to hear it, for in 
getting the best of that bank so cleverly the rascal deserves 
to get off ; and see, here is a description of him." 



100 



A FRENCH TRAVELER. 



I looked at the paper and saw that it was a fair general 
outline of my appearance, even to my ulster which I had with 
me in the valise, and the Scotch cap which was in my pocket. 
Before we reached Drogheda I had explained to one of my 
new friends, in broken French, that, owing to my ignorance 
of the English language, I had purchased a wrong ticket, and 
being liable to make a similar mistake, should feel obliged if 
he would take the trouble to procure me a ticket at that sta- 
tion. He readily assented, and by this means I procured it 
without exposing myself. The hunt for me was becoming so 
extremely hot that I .dared not show myself again at a ticket- 
office ; and if I should be found on a train ticketless, that fact 
might lead to closer scrutiny — the rule in that country being 
that every passenger must be provided with a ticket before 
entering a car, under the penalty of fine or imprisonment. 

The train arrived in Belfast at nine p. m., and I at once 
took a cab to the Glasgow steamer. It was very dark, and 
I went on board unobserved, two hours before the time of 
departure. Going down into the saloon cabin, I saw the 
purser sitting near the entrance, to whom I said : " Parlez 
vous Fran§ais ?" He shook his head. I then asked in jargon 
for " une billet a Glasgow." Surmising what I wished, he 
gave me a ticket, putting on it the number of my berth. 

Expecting to be followed, I had taken that instant pre- 
caution of impressing on the purser's mind that I was a 
Frenchman. I passed " into the wash-room, just opposite 
where the purser sat, washed myself, and brushed my hair. 
Just at this moment I heard steps descending the cabin stair- 
way, then the words: 

" Purser, a cab just brought a man from the Dublin train. 
Where is he?" " Oh, you mean the Frenchman," replied the 
purser ; " he 's in the wash-room." 

While this was passing I had put on my silk hat and 
taken up my valise,' and was standing before the glass (d la 
Frangais), taking a final view of my toilette, and snapping off 
some imaginary dust and lint, as two detectives stepped in, 



THE DETECTIVE'S STORY. \()\ 

and after looking me well over, went out, and I saw them no 
more. That proved to be the last ordeal through which I 
passed in the hunt through Ireland. After being con- 
Tinced that they had left the steamer, I went to my berth, 
and being thoroughly exhausted, I fell asleep in an instant, 
not awaking until the steamer was entering the harbor of 
Glasgow. 

After my arrest a month later in Scotland, during the 
transfer to London, and afterward at Newgate, while awaiting 
trial four months, the detectives told me that they were in 
Cork three hours after I had left, and one of them related 
their adventures substantially as follows : 

"We arrived in Cork Saturday afternoon, and were not long in 
finding the temperance hotel where you stayed on Friday night, 
and the hat you left behind. After a long hunt we ascertained 
that a jaunting-car had left the stand some hours previously, and 
was still absent. 

We had a good laugh at those blunder-heads, the Cork officers, 
letting you slip through their fingers, and then showed them how 
we do things. After some delay, we traced the cab across the 
bridge to the shop where you got the boy to go for it. The shop- 
woman was quite voluble about you, saying she knew all the time 
that you were an American bv^ the accent, and described the bag 
and ulster which we had ascertained were in your possession. Of 
course we were now satisfied that we were on the right scent, but 
could get no further trace, or the direction taken by the cab. We 
therefore sent dispatches to all the telegraph stations within fifty 
miles to put the police on the watch, and sent messengers to the 
outlying places; but somehow you slipped through our meshes, and 
nothing turned up until the carman returned at about eleven p. m., 
as drunk as a soldier on furlough. After putting him under a 
water-tap until he was half drowned, we got him sober enough to 
tell where he had left you; but he swore you were a priest, and his 
evident sincerity caused us all to roar with laughter. This angered 
him, and he said: " Ye may twist me head an dhroun me intirely, 
but I wull niver spake another wurrud about the jintelman at all, 
.at all," and sure enough, we could get nothing more out of him. 



102 



FOLLOWING THE TRAIL. 



We had a carriage ready, and, jumping in, we were at the way- 
side inn by midnight, and terrified the old woman half out of her 
wits in arousing her out of bed. After a while she gathered them 
sufficiently to show us that you had six hours the start of us. Th& 
boy who carried your bag could give us no points, but we concluded 
you intended taking the branch line at .Fermoy for Dublin. W& 
drove right on, arriving at the Fermoy station at one a. m. ; but. 
getting no trace, we telegraphed to all the stations along the line to- 
Dublin, and there as well, to be on the lookout. Who would ever 
have thought of your taking the opposite direction, penning your-' 
self in at the end of a branch line, at a small, inland town like- 
Lismore? Why, you were, as we discovered the next morning, at 
that moment sleeping quietly at the Lismore Hotel, and only about 
ten miles from where we were workiDg so industriously for that 
£500! Well, you "done" us fine, that time! 

After you so cleverly threw us off the trail, we could get no< 
trace until Sunday morning, when we received a dispatch from 
Lismore, stating that a man had come on the last train, stayed at 
the hotel, and left at daylight without paying his bill; also, that he 
had left a bag in his room, which contained some collars marked 
U G. B." " Hello!" said I, as soon as I read the dispatch, "w& 
never suspected Lismore; he has been there all night, and is off, 
again! " We telegraphed to Clonmel, Waterford, and other places;, 
then left for Lismore, where we arrived, paid your bill, and took: 
the bag with us. Surmising that*you might make for Clonmel, 
we looked for and found the place where you got the car, but no- 
news as to what direction you had taken. It would have made 
you laugh, as it did us, to see the old livery-man stamp about and 
tear his hair when he found how easily he could have made the= 
£500 — if he had "only known." 

Starting on the way to Clonmel, we soon had news which satisfied 
us we were once more on the right track. Shortly after we met, 
sure enough, the cab you had sent back from the country store- 
Arriving there we took the boy, who had just returned from driv- 
ing you to Clonmel, with us, and feeling sure that we should soon 
come up with you, we made our horses spin toward that town. 
Arriving there, we saw the Inspector, who informed us that he had 
sent ( a constable in pursuit of a man who had hired a car to go to* 



BAFFLED. 103 

Cahir. [This must have been one of the men in the car whom I 
escaped by dodging into the ruined cottage. — Author.] It being 
then sundown, we drove to Cahir, with all speed, arriving there just 
after dark, passing the Clonmel mail-car inside the gate ; but it 
contained no one but the driver. [It appears that the Bow detect- 
ives arrived just as I was going with Maloy through the lane, as 
previously described ] 

"We soon found the constable sent from Clonmel, who said you 
had disappeared into the fort, where a friend must have concealed 
you, and that you must be there still. He then took us to the fort, 
which was closed for the night. As soon as my eyes lighted on the 
ruined cottages, I asked him if he had searched them, and received 
an answer in the negative. " Why," said he, "they are, as you see, 
all open to the day, without roof, doors, or windows, and no one 
would think of hiding in them." " You are a fool," I replied ; 
" Give me your lamp, and come in with me." After a look around, 
and seeing how easily any person could stand in a corner out of 
sight, I remarked to him, emphatically, that he was the biggest 
specimen of a goose I had ever seen in my line. " I think," said I, 
u you had better go home and play pin. Here is where he dodged 
you, and now he is off again, with an hour or more start ! " We 
worked until after midnight, and gave Cahir such a "turning over"* 
that the inhabitants won't soon forget, but could not get hold of the - 
least trace, except at one place [Maloy's], where a woman said a- 
stranger came in at supper- time, who said he was an American 
seeing the people in their homes. We cross-questioned the man, 
but could get nothing out of him more than that you had departed. 

At last we gave it up, went to the hotel to get some sleep, which, 
we needed badly, and the next day went to Dublin, heard about the 
finding of your neckwrapper at the Cathedral Hotel, and knocked 
about Ireland for some time. During this time we arrested several 
persons, but soon discovered none of them were the right party, 
and we never obtained a genuine trace until you gave yourself 
away later in Edinburgh. 

Readers who may discover any trace of exultation in my 
relation of the cool and skillful manner in which I eluded the 
detectives, will bear in mind that the story is told from the 



104 



FAREWELL TO ERIN. 



standpoint of my then state of feeling. It is only fair for me 
to say that, at the moment, while in the thick of it, I did feel 
a certain exultation and full confidence in my ability to keep 
out of the way for all time. But my name had become known, 
which, with other disclosures, showed that I had been a victim 
of misplaced confidence ; and, though I might have gone any- 
where with impunity, while they were still hunting me 
in Ireland, I lay dormant in Edinburgh rather than to be hunted 
through the world. 




Chapter XII. 



ARRIVAL IN EDINBURGH — A MYSTERY UNVEILED — EDITORIAL FROM THE "LONDON 
TIMES" — I AM ARRESTED — M'KELVIE AND McNAB — DIAMONDS — BAILIE WIL- 
SON — CROWDS TO SEE ME OFF — TRANSFERRED TO LONDON — A NIGHT AT 
BOW-STREET POLICE STATION — BEFORE THE LORD MAYOR OF LONDON — THE 
MANSION HOUSE — CONSIGNED TO NEWGATE. 

ON arrival of the steamer at Glasgow, about three a. m., 
it was a question whether I ought not to go directly 
back to London, and, while it was believed I was still in 
Ireland, make a rush across the Channel, through France to 
Marseilles, then by steamer to Rio Janeiro. On arrival there 
it would be easy to take one of the coast line steamships for 
New York. But, feeling that my escape from Ireland had cut 
off all trace of me, I concluded to take the train to Edinburgh 
and lie by for a while. Arriving there I stayed one night at a 
small temperance hotel, assuming the character of a German, 
and the next day I took a room at 22 Cumberland Street — a 
lodging house for medical students. Here I remained from 
the 10th of March until the 3d of April, sometimes passing 
the day in wandering about this interesting ancient city. A 
stroll through the old Edinburgh streets, and the old Market 
Cross, furnished material for reflection on the vicissitudes of 
life as illustrated in the pictures of the past, which filled my 
mind as I gazed upon these relics of generations in whose 
footsteps I was now treading. 

It had all along been a great mystery to me as to how the 
detectives had so easily unveiled the actors, and so quickly 
ascertained the connection of McDonald and myself with the 
forgery. But now having access to the newspapers, shock 
after shock nearly overwhelmed me as I saw how I had been 



106 



given away: 



duped to take part in a crime without the slightest chance of 
keeping it enveloped in the darkness in which I firmly believed 
it was wrapped. But enough on that point. The object of 
this book is not to inculpate — still less to exonerate myseli 




OLD EDINBURGH STREET. 

from the justifiable charge of having been a fool. 

On arriving in London, I was taken to the Bow-street Police 
Station and put into a cell, to pass a sleepless night, and about 
ten the next morning, made my first appearance in the 
Mansion House before Mayor Sir Sidney Waterlow. After 
some preliminary sparring between the lawyers, I was con- 
signed to Newgate, to ruminate upon my gradual descent into 
that hades. — two days after my arrest in Edinboro. 




BOW STREET POLICE STATION. 



Chapter XIII. 



EXTRADITION OF AUSTIN FROM CUBA AND GEORGE McDONALD FROM 

NEW YORK — AUSTIN ARRESTED IN HAVANA — A " NEW YORK HERALD" EDI- 
TORIAL — SYMPATHY WITH " FILIBUSTERS " — CABLE DISPATCHES TO "THE 
HERALD" AND " THE LONDON TIMES " — GENERAL SICKLES'S INTERVIEW WITH 
SENOR CASTELAR AT MADRID — BID WELL ESCAPES — RECAPTURE — HE IS SUR- 
RENDERED TO THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT — ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND — McDONALD 
ARRIVES IN NEW YORK — DETECTIVES IRVING AND FARLEY TRICK SHERIFF 
JUDSON JARVIS — BOARD THE " THURINGIA " AT QUARANTINE — CURIOUS 
"SEARCH" OF McDONALD —SHERIFFS JARVIS AND CURRY TOO LATE — NO 
BONDS RECOVERED — SEIZE WATCHES AND DIAMONDS — McDONALD AT LUDLOW 
STREET JAIL — EXTRADITION PROCEEDINGS — STARTLING ARREST OF SUPERIN- 
TENDENT KELSO AND DETECTIVES IRVING AND FARLEY — McDONALD 'S RIDE 
DOWN BROADWAY — IN FORT COLUMBUS— SURRENDERED TO THE BRITISH 
GOVERNMENT — EXIT ON STEAMSHIP "MINNESOTA" — THE "DOMINION'S SELF- 
ISH PROTECTION OF BANK DEFAULTERS, BOODLERS," ETC. 

IT will be remembered that in Chapter was detailed 

the imprudent marriage of my brother, and his arrest 
at Havana while on his wedding journey. 

I now resume the story, giving in this chapter some 
account, from contemporary sources, of his extradition from 
Cuba and his arrival in London. 

[Editorial m Y. Herald, March 29, 1873.] 

CUBAN AFFAIRS — BID WELL'S IMPRISONMENT. 

The special telegraph advices which we publish to-day in refer- 
ence to the imprisonment at Havana of Bidwell, one of the parties 
accused of the recent forgeries on the Bank of England, are very 
interesting, touching the jurisdiction of the Island authorities in 
this matter. It appears that Bidwell was arrested at the request 
of the British government, on the supposition that he was a British 
subject; but it is represented that he is a citizen of the L T nited 
States of America, a native of Michigan, and that his arrest in 
Cuba is not justified by any extradition treaty with England nor by 



110 INTERNATIONAL COMPLICATIONS. 

any other authority, except that of the Captain-General, whose will 
over the Island is the supreme law. If it can be established that 
Bid well is a citizen of the United States, his case certainly calls for 
the intervention of Mr. Secretary Fish. The prisoner, it seems, 
•desires a transfer to New York, which* is perfectly natural; but we 
suspect that the international 'difficulties suggested, touching his deten- 
tion in Cuba, will not materially improve his chances of escape. 

Not long before the arrest of my brother in Cuba, the 
steamer Virginia, an American vessel, was captured by a 
Spanish cruiser. On the charge of being " fillibusters," the 
crew and all persons found on board were shot. Among 
these were several Americans. The United States govern- 
ment sent for the Virginia and demanded reparation for her 
capture, and indemnity for the lives of the Americans. This 
was the cause of serious international complications, which 
threatened to end in war. It was this state of affairs referred 
to in the italics of the Herald editorial above quoted, which 
caused his final surrender. 

There is no longer any doubt that the punctilious Span- 
iards would never have surrendered Austin to the 
demand of the British government, had it not been for their 
posture of hostility toward the United States. There was 
considerable ground for this feeling in the sympathy shown 
in some parts of the United States for, and assistance ren- 
dered to, the Cuban insurgents. 

It will be perceived, by the following dispatch, that Austin 
was supposed to be a British subject. 

[Telegrams to the New York Herald of 29th, referred to in above editorial.] 

Havana, March 26, 1873. 
The man Bid well was, it appears, arrested on the charge of 
complicity with the forgeries on the Bank of England, at the 
request of the British government, communicated to the Captain- 
General of Cuba by the Spanish Ministers in London and Wash- 
ington, who supposed him to be a British subject. Bidwell is, on 
the contrary, an American, a native of Michigan. His arrest is 
not justified by any treaty of extradition between Spain, England, 



VIOLATION OF LA WS. HI 

or the United States. Such proceedings could be carried out in 
no other country than Cuba, where the Captain -General does not 
always act in accordance with law. Distinguished lawyers and 
judges of this city, in conversation with the Herald correspondent, 
denounce the act as being utterly illegal, and without precedent, 
except in the case of Argeumes, in the year 1864. 

COMMON" LAW AND TREATY SET AT DEFIANCE. 

The gentlemen also declare that it is a violation of the laws of 
Spain and of the treaty stipulations with the United States, and in 
contempt of the guarantees of the law of 1870 relative to foreigners. 
The same lawyers and judges assert that it would be better -that a 
delinquent should escape than that so bad a precedent as the act of 
delivery of Bid well would make should be established. 

THE PRISONER'S TREATMENT AND FEARS. 

Bidwell has been now seven days incommunicated — not per- 
mitted to see a lawyer or his wife. The Herald correspondent has 
been refused permission to see him. 

The British Vice-Consul obtained, by compulsion, the sum of 
$5,000 from Mrs. Bidwell, in United States five-twenties. Com- 
plaints having been made, the Captain -General ordered that the 
;sum should be deposited. 

Bidwell is afraid that there exist no guarantees for a due and 
proper administration of justice here. He has expressed his desire 
io be sent to New York. 

[Cable dispatches from Havana to the London Times.] 

New York, April 4, 1873. 
Great efforts are being made by the lawyers to obtain the 
Telease of Bidwell, and an action for illegal arrest is threatened. 

Havana, April 4th. 
The American Consul here demands from the Cuban authorities 
the release of the prisoner Bidwell, alias Warren, on the ground 
that he is an American citizen. 

Madrip, April 8th. 
Gen. Sickles has formally notified Senor Castelar that the 
American government will consent to. the surrender to the British 
government of Bidwell, now in custody in Havana, upon a charge 
-of being concerned in the forgeries upon the Bank of England. 



112 CABLE DISPATCHES. 

Havana, April 10th. 
The British Consul continues to counteract the efforts that am 
being made to prevent the extradition of Bidwell. 

Generals Portello and Renegassi have been relieved of theii 
posts, and are ordered to return to Spain. (For opposing Austin, 
extradition). 

[By cable from Havana to N. Y. Herald, April 13, 1873.] 

Bidwell, the alleged Bank of England forger, escaped yesterday 
by jumping over the balcony. He was partly dressed. He is sup- 
posed to be hiding in this city. Bidwell's Havana friends, seeing 
the impossibility of counteracting by legal means the efforts of the 
British Consul to secure his extradition, undoubtedly planned the* 
affair. 

Havana, April 14th. 

Bidwell has been recaptured on the seashore twenty miles above 
Havana. He was severely bruised in the hands and legs while- 
escaping from prison. He had leaped from under the soldiers' 
bayonets, from the Arsenal second story int© the crowded street,, 
and got clear out of Havana without assistance. 

[By cable to the London Times.'] 

Havana, April 17, 1873. 
While Inspectors Hayden and Green, and a clerk of the Bank 
of England, were on their passage from New York to Havana, a* 
notorious thief, named Wilson, opened the detectives' trunks and 
extracted some money. His object is said to have been to secure 
the documents relating to the extradition of Bidwell. Wilson has 
been arrested on a charge of burglary. The English detectives 
and the British Consul have completely baffled the efforts to obtain 
the release of Bidwell. 

[From the London Times, May 28, 1873.] 
Among the passengers who landed at Plymouth yesterday after* 
noon, from the Royal Mail Company's steamship Moselle, were 
Austin alias Warren, in charge of detectives Sergeants 

Michael Hayden and William Green, of the city police, and Mr. 
Curton, private detective (of Mr. Pinkerton's staff, from Chicago). 
They were joined at Plymouth by detective Sergeant John Moss of 
the city police, who had come down from London the previous 



THE CANADIAN COLONY. 113 

night to meet the steamer. It being known at Plymouth that Bid- 
well was expected from Havana in the Moselle, a large number of 
persons assembled on Milbay pier, to await the return of the steam- 
tender with the mail, in order to get a sight of the prisoner, and so 
great was the crowd that it was with some difficulty that Bidwell 
and his escort managed to reach a cab and were driven to the Duke 
of Cornwall Hotel, adjoining the railway station. They left by the 
7.45 p. m. mail train for London. A large crowd was present to 
see them off. Mr. Good, from the western branch of the Bank of 
England, who went to Jamaica to identify the prisoner, also came 
home in the Moselle, and went on in the steamer to Southampton, 
en route for London. Bidwell will be taken before the Lord Mayor 
at the Justice-room of the Mansion House this morning. 

I have it from what I consider the best authority, that 
among the secret stipulations of the treaty for settling the 
steamer Virginia affair — in which Great Britain had a hand 
— was one in effect binding the United States government to 
consent that Austin might be delivered to the British author- 
ities by the Spanish government. 

I would call the especial attention of our neighbors of 
the " Dominion " to the foregoing. On this occasion it was an 
American — to whom the laws of his own country properly 
refused protection, after the committal of a crime abroad — • 
who was extradited from Cuba, despite the fact that there 
was no extradition treaty between Spain and England. It 
makes a difference whose bull is gored. 

Long previous to 1873, a British dependency (or inde- 
pendency?) has been a safe refuge for bank-defaulters, 
boodlers, etc., from the United .States — and this because of 
the dishonest money they squander or invest in the " Domin- 
ion." Short-sighted policy! Will not reflection convince 
our neighbors that seeing criminal " exiles " strutting about 
their towns in stolen plumes, living in high style, and squan- 
dering their illicit gains in divers ways, is a direct incentive 
to their young men to " go and do likewise " ? Such a blind 
policy is sure to entail its own retribution, with compound 



114 DETECTIVES GO DOWN THE BAY. 

interest, and even now we have a Canadian colony of the 
same kidney protected by the starry flag. 

In Chapter I gave a sketch of McDonald's flight and 

embarkation at Havre for New York. As soon as the Thur- 
ingia was fairly on her voyage he felt comparatively safe, 
believing that even if the fact transpired that he was one of 
my party, it would be impossible to extradite him from New 
York. 

But before the steamer arrived Mr. Kelso, then superin- 
tendent of the New York City police, received a cablegram 
from Inspector Bailey of the City of London police, with full 
particulars, and at once detailed Detectives Irving and Farley 
to meet the steamer and arrest McDonald. 

At the same time the law firm of Blatchford, Seward & 
Da Costa, agents for the Bank of England, received the same 
information, also that McDonald had a large sum in bonds 
and other valuables. They at once procured a writ of attach- 
ment from the Supreme Court which they confided to Sheriff 
Brennan for execution. 

Commissioner Gutman appointed Detective Irving United 
States Deputy Marshal to serve the warrant against Mc- 
Donald. The action of the plaintiff's attorneys made the 
police officers responsible for the person of McDonald on the 
criminal charge, and held Sheriff Brennan responsible for the 
seizure and attachment of all the valuables and property 
found upon him. It became important, therefore, that the 
police and sheriff's officers should act jointly, and arrange- 
ments were made for both police detectives and sheriff's 
deputies to go together down the bay to meet the incoming 
steamer. Therefore, Detectives Farley and Irving, Deputy 
Sheriff Judson Jarvis, and special Deputy Lawrence Curry, 
went down the bay on Tuesday, March 18th, on board the 
police boat Seneca, and prepared to board her from the quar- 
antine boat. The detectives and Deputy Sheriff Jarvis had 
gone ashore for this purpose, leaving special Deputy Curry on 
board the police boat, which was in charge of a sergeant. 



Mcdonald picked clean. 115 

The detectives before going aboard the quarantine boat urged 
Deputy Sheriff Judson Jarvis to remain on shore until they 
sent for him, alleging that they feared the forger might divine 
the object of their visit, and make away with the bonds which 
it was certain he had on his person. Their real object was 
to see him alone first, as they knew he would confide his valu- 
ables to them for safe-keeping. Ponder on the import of those 
italics. This the deputy declined to do, and went aboard the 
quarantine boat with them, but on attempting to board the 
Thuringia at the same time with the detectives, Mr. Jarvis 
was prevented by Dr. Moshier, deputy Health Officer in 
charge, although insisting on his right as a sheriff serving an 
order of the Supreme Court. The detectives with whom the 
deputy sheriff was acting in concert, of course, made no 
attempt to explain to the Health Officer, but hurrying below 
got from Mac, with whom they were well-acquainted, all the 
bonds in his possession, while Deputy Sheriff Jarvis was thus 
prevented from executing the order of the Supreme Court. 

Meantime special Deputy Curry, on board the police boat, 
becoming suspicious from the long delay that something was 
wrong on board the Thuringia, requested the sergeant to run 
down alongside the steamer, and a rope being thrown him, he 
immediately climbed on board. Finding that his superior 
had been detained on the health boat, he immediately ran to 
the other side, and assuming authority, ordered the boat for- 
ward, and Deputy Sheriff Jarvis sprang up the side of the 
vessel, and both officers at once went below. The search of 
McDonald, of course, had been concluded, when the sheriffs 
entered the state-room and made the attachment of what 
little property was found. This consisted of about 110,000 
in gold, that being too heavy for the detectives to carry away, 
and it would have been dangerous to attempt to make way 
with the watches and diamonds, Mac having displayed them 
on the voyage, — two gold watches, one diamond ring weighing 
ten karats and worth probably 110,000, two diamonds weigh- 
ing four and one-sixteenth karats, and one diamond weigh- 



116 



KELSO, FARLEY, AND IRVING SURPRISED. 



ing four and one-half karats. Not a single bond of any 
description was found by the sheriff, and only a few gold 
coins were left on Mac's person. On being searched a second 
time McDonald laughed and said, " I'm clean ; you can't 
prove anything on me ; you can't send me back to England on 
any such charge." 

In order to throw dust in the eyes of the sheriff, the detec- 
tives pretended to become suspicious of others on board, and 
at their suggestion, the custom-house officers searched the 
person of one named Philip D'Artigue who had come aboard 
at Havre, and who had been frequently in conversation with 
Mac during the voyage. It was rumored on board that he had 
300,000 francs on his person when he started, but no bonds of 
any description or money were found on him. Other passengers 
were searched but none of the bonds were found, and McDonald 
was taken to the Ludlow Street house-of-detention. 

After depositing the captured property in safe keeping, 
Deputy Sheriff Jarvis reported the seizure that had been 
made to Messrs. Blatchford, Seward & Da Costa. Those 
lawyers were astonished at the result of the search, which 
disappointed their well-grounded expectations. Inquiry was 
made by them into the circumstances of the deputy sheriff's 
detention, and they asked his opinion of the proceedings, but 
this he declined to give. - 

Finally, after consultation among themselves, they directed 
the deputy sheriff to serve the same warrant of attachment 
he had served upon Mac, upon Detectives Irving and Farley ; 
also on Superintendent Kelso. After some hesitation and 
inquiry of his own counsel, the deputy sheriff found it was 
incumbent upon him to take this extraordinary and unusual 
proceeding. He therefore repaired, about six o'clock P. M., to 
the office of the superintendent, and immediately served an 
attachment on him and on Detectives Farley and Irving. 
The service of the writ on Superintendent Kelso was a great 
surprise to him. This service rendered all three subject to 
examination about the bonds. 



EXTRADITION PROCEEDINGS. 117 

During the extradition proceedings before United States 
Commissioner Gutman, Superintendent Kelso purged himself 
and his subordinates, Detectives Farley and Irving (who skill- 
fully evaded examination on the ground that their superior, 
Superintendent Kelso, was responsible for their acts and must 
answer for them, they reporting detective services only to 
him), from the implied charge of having appropriated bonds, 
•etc., by making oath that he had nothing " except a revolver 
taken from the possession of the said George McDonald." 

I am not able to say that the superintendent was in the 
-confidence of his subordinates, in the case in question; but I 
<io know, on the best authority, that the two detectives did 
take a considerable amount of United States bonds from Mac 
on board the steamer, and that the whole object of their 
maneuvering to prevent the deputy sheriffs, Judson Jarvis 
and Lawrence Curry, from getting on board the steamer at 
the same time with themselves, was for the express purpose 
of affording them that opportunity. I could give some 
startling particulars in regard to this and cognate matters — 
but let it pass. 

Mr. E. M. Archibald, British Consul, made a demand on 
the part of his government for the surrender of McDonald, 
and had orders to aid the Bank of England agents, Messrs. 
Blatchford, Seward & Da Costa, in procuring his extradition. 
Mr. J. R. Fellows, the present District Attorney of New York 
City, Charles W. Brooke, and Mr. J. R. Dos Passos acted as 
counsel for McDonald. 

The legal proceedings lasted from the 20th of March to 
the 5th of June, 1873. The array of counsel on both sides 
made it a forensic contest between giants, in which till past 
history was invoked for precedents, pro and con. These two 
extradition cases caused international complications, in which 
ambassadors and consuls took an active part. I have the 
McDonald case complete in all its details, but not the space 
to record the full legal proceedings. 

After United States Commissioner Gutman had iinallv 



118 IN FORT COLUMBUS. 

decided to surrender him to the demand of the British 
government, appeal was made to the United States Circuit 
Court, Judge Woodruff, then to the Supreme Court, Judge 
Barrett, before whom McDonald was brought by writs of 
habeas corpus ; but the commissioner's decision was sustained, 
McDonald was sent to Fort Columbus for safe keeping, while 
counsel were vainly arguing on new writs of habeas corpus 
and certiorari, and before any conclusion could be reached, 
he was hurried away by his custodians. He had scarcely time 
to bid good-bye to his counsel, when he was handcuffed to a 
United States officer, and with him crowded into a carriage in 
Chambers Street, guarded by Chief Deputy Marshal Kennedy 
and Deputies Robinson and Crowley, and driven rapidly down 
Broadway to the Battery, so that the large crowd who gathered 
to witness his departure from the metropolis had very little 
time to feast their eyes. 

McDonald was lively and chatty during the ride, smoked 
his Havana, and looked through the windows of the barouche 
as freely as if his hands were unshackled. He was transferred 
from the battery to Governor's Island by a tugboat, and sub- 
sequently handed over by the deputy marshals to the charge 
of Major J. P. Roy, who had him escorted to Fort Columbus,, 
and saw him placed in one of the casemates, under the vigi- 
lance and charge of two guardsman and the surveillance of 
Deputy Marshal Robinson, and the English detective, Mr. 
Webb. Lieutenant J. W. Bean had him furnished with nec- 
essary requirements, and the deputy marshal and English 
detective with sleeping apartments near by. 

The following morning, United States Marshal Fiske, with 
Deputies Crowley and Purvis, Mr. Peter Williams, solicitor 
of the Bank of England, Sergeant Edward Hancock, a Lon- 
don detective, Deputy Marshal Colfax, and others, boarded the 
steam-tug P. C. Schultze at the Battery, and steamed across 
to Governor's Island. At half-past ten o'clock, Captain J. W. 
Bean, on post at the fort, received through Major J. P. Roy 
the following order from United States Marshal Fiske : 



THE U. S. MAES HAL'S ORDER. \\0f 

Major J. P. Roy, United States Army, Commanding Fort Columbus : 
Sir, — You will please deliver to Deputy United States Marshal 
John Robinson, the prisoner George McDonald, now in custody, 
and oblige, Oliver Fiske, United States MarsJud. 

On receipt of the above official notice Captain Bean pre- 
pared to deliver up the prisoner to the charge of United States. 
Marshal Fiske and his party, who had by this time arrived at 
Fort Columbus, and were waiting at the doors of the casemate. 
The sentries paced the iron balconies with uninterrupted 
attention to duty, apparently unconcerned about the exigency 
on hand. 

McDonald immediately recognized his visitors and un- 
derstood the object of their visit, greeting them cordially as 
they entered the gloomy corridor. He looked, as usual, in 
good spirits, with some slight furrows of trouble and care 
upon his forehead, and a sort of distressing and affected mood 
of indifference in his deportment. 

Captain J. W. Bean read to him the order of United 
States Marshal Fiske' to Major J. P. Roy, and then delivered 
him over to United States Marshal Fiske's charge, with whom 
he descended the steps from the balcony of the fort, and 
marched, with a deputy at either side, through the tiled path- 
ways and groved and shaded avenues, to the wharf at the 
other end of the island, where the Sehultze was awaiting his 
arrival. A large crowd of spectators, soldiers, and civilians 
lined the wharf, lingering anxiously to see McDonald " off." 
But Mac walked very leisurely, smoked, laughed, and appeared 
in a state of unaccountable good humor. He reached the 
Sehultze barge, however, in due time, shook hands with the 
deputies, marshals, sergeants, and detectives, and then went 
on board, and entered into conversation of some trivial kind 
with Messrs. Williams, Hancock, and Webb. 

It was nearly eleven o'clock when the iSehuJtze steamed 
away from Governor's Island wharf and whistled and rattled 
down the bay to await the arrival of the Minnesota, which lay 
at anchor during the forenoon near pier 46, North River, and 



120 A WEASEL ASLEEP. 

did not sail until some minutes after twelve o'clock. The 
Schultze meantime waited, steaming around the lower bay 
until the Minnesota arrived. It was after half-past one o'clock. 
The sun was burning hot, and the browned and florid com- 
plexion of all showed its effects. The steam-tug neared the 
bulky and huge vessel, and McDonald was finally taken on 
board by United States Marshal Fiske and Deputy Marshals 
Robinson, Crowley, and Colfax, and given into the custody of 
the English detectives, Sergeants Webb and Hancock, who in 
return gave the usual receipt to Marshal Fiske. 

For the present, I leave Mac on the Atlantic, sailing 
swiftly eastward, to meet his terrible doom. 

A fitting finale to these remarkable extradition cases will 
be the following adventure, in which one of the English de- 
tectives figured rather ingloriously. . 

The three Bow-Street officers, Inspectors Hayden, Han- 
cock, and Webb, expressed a desire to detectives Irving and 
Farley to be shown the sights of New York. Accordingly, 
these, acting in an unofficial capacity, accompanied their Eng- 
lish visitors upon a night's round of the most notorious resorts. 
Previous to starting, however, the English officers were 
advised to leave their watches and other valuables at the 
hotel, lest they should be stolen during the excursion. But 
Hayden, who was to sail for Havana a few days later to 
arrest Bi dwell, scorned the idea, and set out for his night's 
amusement. 

Towards morning he became sleepy, and taking a nap, he 
subsequently discovered that he had been robbed, not only of 
his watch and pocketbook, but also of the papers for the 
extradition of Bidwell, which he had foolishly carried in his 
pocket. Of course, he was greatly dismayed at the loss of 
these important documents, but they were returned to him by 
Superintendent Kelso, who had received them from Capt. 
Leary of the City Hall precinct. They had been surrepti- 
tiously left at the station-house on the day following the rob- 
bery. The watch and pocketbook were not recovered. 



Chapter XIV. 



STRST NIGHT IN NEWGATE — GOVEKNOR JONAS — EXERCISE AT NEWGATE — DR. 
KENEALY — MR. GEORGE LEWIS — DAVID HOWELL, A "PATTERN" SOLICITOR — ■ 
A FATAL CONCESSION ON MY PART — DON'T " SWOP HORSES WHILE CROSSING 
A STREAM" — HOWELL " FEES " BARRISTERS FOR US — HIS "MANAGEMENT" 
OF OUR CASE— HOWELL " HOLDS " MY DIAMOND STUDS — 108 WITNESSES — 
VISITORS AT NEWGATE — HOWELL'S "BENEVOLENT" CALLS — MISTAKEN IDEN- 
TIFICATION — LONDON ALDERMEN — ANOTHER PHASE OF "LIFE IN NEWGATE," 
FROM "THE LONDON TIMES" — CAGED ANIMALS — ALFRED DE ROTHSCHILD 
AND ONE OF HIS " FAMILIARS" — VISIT FROM THE RUSSIAN PRINCE IMPERIAL, 
THE PRESENT CZAR — LORD MAYOR WATERLOW AGAIN — THE PRINCE'S RETI- 
NUE — I CONTEMPLATE RETURNING HIS CALL AT ST. PETERSBURGH. 

TO be sure, I was not to be hanged, as was the man at 
that moment sitting on the bench in the " condemned 
cell" in the same ward. But that first night in Newgate! A 
sleepless one, indeed — given up to retrospections and vain 
regrets. I at last had reached that dread abode of which I 
had read so much ; that place, the scene of so many horrors 
in the dim and misty past, whose history, extending over a 
period of eight hundred years — one long record of crime — 
had rendered the very name infamous. While lying restless 
on the pallet, with closed eyes, my mind wandered in a chaos 
until I almost fancied myself the victim of an oppressive 
nightmare. Opening them upon the cheerless surroundings, 
as seen by the gas-light shining dimly through the glass plate 
imbedded in the wall, dissipated the illusion, and the whole 
horror of my position surged anew through my seething brain. 
Toward morning, dropping off into fitful slumbers, I dreamed 
of happier days, only to awake each time with a start, to 
realize more fully the degradation I had brought upon myself. 
The next morning the governor (warden he would be 
sailed in the States) of Newgate, Mr. Jonas, since dead, came 



122 



BOARD AND LODGING. 



into my cell and said that if I did not wish to live on the jail 
fare, I could have food brought in from a restaurant, to the 
amount of half a crown per day — sixty cents' worth — at 




CONDEMNED TO BE HANGED. 

my own cost. I thought this rather a small allowance, -but 
Mr. Jonas explained that the jail regulations permitted no 
more. 

Governor Jonas also informed me that in anticipation of 
my arrival he had put a cot bed in the cell for me to sleep 
on, instead of the sailor's hammock, which hangs from the 
side walls, and which, afterwards, I found so difficult a con- 
trivance to sleep in, and so easy to fall out of. Soon after J 
was taken to the doctor, who asked me if there was anything 
he could do for me ; but I declined his services, with thanks. 
In the afternoon I was taken into the inner court, (see illus- 
tration, page 33), for an hour's exercise, and a motley crew 
they were, walking round and round the court. While there,, 
detectives came in- every day to see if they could detect 



AGAIN BEFORE THE LORD MAYOR. 



125 



among the "new chums" any old offenders, and seldom failed 
to call out several, as shown in the following cut. 

Not knowing any solicitor in London, I sent for George 
Lewis, whose name I had seen in the newspapers in connec- 
tion with criminal trials. The next day Noyes and myself 
were again before the Lord Mayor at the Mansion House, and 
after some sparring between Dr. Kenealy and Mr. G. Lewis 
on our behalf, and Mr. Freshfield on the part of the Bank, we 
were once more remanded to our cells in Newgate. 




A DETECTIVE IDENTIFYING OLD OFFENDERS AT NEWGATE. 

As some of my readers may not understand the distinction 
between solicitors and barristers, it may be well to explain 
that the solicitor takes the case and transacts all the business 
connected with it. A barrister is the lawyer who is employed 
by the solicitor to argue and conduct the case in court. He 
does not come in direct contact with the prisoner, but gets 
his instructions from the solicitor — all this being different 
from the system pursued in our own country. 

When Noyes found himself so unexpectedly in the grasp 
of the British Lion, not knowing any other solieitor, he sent. 



126 • ABE'S ADVICE DISREGARDED. 

for Howell, the man who had charged him so exorbitant a fee 
for the articles of agreement between himself and " Horton." 
It was precisely this that prevented me from sending for him, 
on the principle that " a straw shows which way the wind 
blows," and it would have been well if on this and other 
occasions I had " stuck to my text." 

Although, very properly, talking was by the Newgate 
rules prohibited, still, like many other prison "prohibitions," 
this was evaded. Noyes being with me in the same court- 
yard at exercise, asked me to give up Mr. Lewis and employ 
Howell, so that we could communicate safely with each other 
through him. To this I demurred, because my one interview 
with the former gentleman, together with his admirable con- 
duct upon the occasion of our first examination at the Man- 
sion House, had convinced me that he was not only a skillful 
but also a straightforward lawyer. However, Noyes arranged 
with Howell to have me called into the consulting-room. On 
entering, I saw before me an under-sized, spare man, with a 
sandy complexion, red hair, small, covetous eyes, and the gen- 
eral air of a Shylock ; and when he spoke, it was in a squeaky 
voice. After some preliminaries, he began to insinuate 
various things against Mr. J Lewis, speaking of him as that 
-"sheeney" (Jew), etc. Of course the strain of the previous 
days had somewhat affected my judgment, and to oblige 
Noyes I finally agreed to transfer my case into his hands. 
And a fatal concession it was. 

I have often wondered since, what possessed me to " swop 
horses while crossing the stream," especially as I had that 
famous saying of " Honest old Abe " in mind at the moment. 
Mr. Lewis would have guarded against the occurrences which 
caused us to get the life sentences. 

At this juncture another brother, John an honest 

man, arrived in England, and brought with him some bonds 
— United States seven-thirties — to use in our defense. Not 
being posted in money matters, he placed $4,000 in Howell's 
hands for him to sell, and use the proceeds in engaging bar- 
risters of the highest standing for our defense. 



TRICKS OF A PETTIFOGGER. 129 

On one of Howell's daily visits to Newgate to see us, he 
sounded me as to the price I thought he ought to receive for 
the bonds. Upon my asking him what he could sell them 
for, he said he had credited them at a price which was thirty 
per cent, under the market rate. I soon undeceived him as 
to his idea of our ignorance on that point, by informing him 
of the fact that John had sold, by my direction, since the 
$4,000 was put into his hands, another lot of bonds for the 
full market price. This incident is only an introduction 
to others regarding this " pattern " solicitor, the reading of 
which will, I think, please and amuse Mr. Freshfield, the 
Bank of England solicitor, and the barristers whom Mr. 
Howell engaged to defend us. 

After he had received the 14,000, and £300 Mr. Lewis 
had paid into his hands, he applied in open court for an 
allowance for our defense, to be paid out of funds taken away 
from us, on the ground that he had received nothing from us, 
and consequently could not pay the barristers. Accordingly 
the judge ordered that .£100 for each one of us four should 
be refunded. We had directed Solicitor Howell to secure the 
services of barristers who stood high in their profession, such 
as Mr. *Powell, Q. C. (Queen's Counsel), Mr. Besley, Mr. 
Mclntire, Q. C, Mr. Moody, Mr. Ribton, and Mr. Hollings; 
and to pay the Q. Cs. each £100 or £150 fees, and the others 
in proportion. During the trial I ascertained that Howell 
had, instead of payment, enlisted their sympathies, and on 
the ground that he had only the £300 allowed by the court 
to the three of us whom he represented — McDonald having 
wisely secured the services of an honorable solicitor, St. John 
Wentner — induced them to work almost for nothing. 

We being foreigners, and the case an important one, the 
barristers stepped over the usual bounds and took suggestions 
directly from us, an example of which may be seen in the 
illustration, page in which McDonald is speaking with 

his barrister, Mr. Straight. They are very good likenesses of 
the lawyer and client in 1873. 



130 FURTHER TRICKS. 

Before being arrested, I had. sent Mr. George Lewis £300, 
to use in the defense of Nojes. To show the difference 
between Mr. Lewis and Howell — who spoke disparagingly of 
him and took the meanest course to get my case out of his 
hands, as previously mentioned — when Mr. Lewis ascertained 
that Noyes had already sent for Howell, he paid over to the 
latter the £300, instead of showing my note to Noyes, which 
would have secured the case and the £300 to himself. It 
will be seen by the above that at the time Solicitor Howell 
applied for an allowance of money, he had above £1,000 in 
his hands, which, with the £300 allowed by the court, made 
£1,300, the greater part of which he applied to his own use 
and benefit, paying out but a small part of it in the prepara- 
tion of a proper defense. He managed the case on our side, 
according to my observations, exactly as Mr. Freshfield would 
have desired in order to carry out the latter's theory, exon- 
erating the Bank managers from a charge of neglect, etc., as 
elsewhere explained. 

A copy of the book of depositions taken before the Lord 
Mayor was given to me by Solicitor Howell, with the request 
that I would memorandum on the broad margin left for the 
purpose, any criticisms of the evidence I might wish to make 
for the guidance of the lawyers. Accordingly I worked at it 
from the close of the examination, the 2d of July, during 
a month, and showed where the witnesses against me had 
contradicted themselves — engravers swearing they had en- 
graved letters which appeared on the false bills, that I could 
have proved another- had actually done, etc. — so that their 
evidence must have been thrown out. Yet Solicitor Howell 
suppressed all this. I also gave him an order for a set of 
diamond studs, valued at $1,000, to hold for me, and he has 
" held " them ever since. A few moments previous to the 
sentence I ascertained that he had received them, and was 
then wearing them in his shirt-front. They were set in black 
enamel, and doubtless our barristers whom he defrauded out 
of their just fees may have since observed what a sparkling 



* BUSINESS IN THE JAIL" 133 

light in the profession he had suddenly become. These and 
other circumstances convinced me, before the eight days trial 
at the Old Bailey was half over, that Solicitor Howell was 
playing into the hands of the prosecution, and, to prevent 
discovery of his malappropriation of money and valuables to 
the amount of $10,00Q, connived to get us put out of the way 
for life — especially me, whom he feared had penetrated his 
designs. 

All this was so clear that on the seventh day of the trial 
I determined to get up in open court and expose the whole 
matter, but on taking counsel with one of the barristers he 
dissuaded me from my purpose. I hope that he used the 
information I then gave him to extract from Solicitor Howell 
just fees for himself and his brother barristers. 

It was Solicitor Howell who gave Governor Jonas infor- 
mation, exaggerating something I said to him, thus causing 
the great scare during the trial about an alleged plan of 
•escape. 

During the five horrible months I was awaiting trial, it 
was a great relief £o be called out of my cell into the consult- 
ing-room every day to pass five or ten minutes with Solicitor 
Howell, and for a long time my opinion of his character as 
first formed was modified by such a proof of his considerate 
kindness. But after he had made about one hundred visits I 
ascertained that he was charging ten dollars each visit, 
though I had on several occasions endeavored to ascertain 
whether he was charging for them, but was put off with a 
laugh and the remark : " 0, I have business in the jail." 

It was a relief to be called out of my cell, no matter for 
what purpose. Upon several occasions I was turned out into 
the yard with a dozen other prisoners, as shown in illustra- 
tion, page 65, in order that a person or persons should be 
compelled to point out from among a number the one against 
whom he was to testify, or whom he accused of some offense. 
Of course the above way is a fair one to accused and accuser, 
and is the usual plan in England ; but in my own case, on 



134 NEWGATE RESTRICTIONS. 

more than one occasion, some one of the one hundred and 
eight witnesses were brought to identify me while I stood in. 
the dock at the* Mansion House, many of whom professed to> 
having seen us but once or twice several weeks or months 
previously. 

Another great relief from the monotony of my cell was 
the advent of a visitor. In the illustration, page are 

seen the prisoners with their faces pressed against the wire- 
grating — the meshes being about one-quarter inch square — 
talking to their friends who have come to visit them, the 
space between the two wire gratings being four feet. Ail 
officer stands at one end or paces back and forth in this space 
to prevent any small article or written communication from 
being passed across by use of a slender cane or wire, etc.. 
But I found that there, as elsewhere, a judicious application 
of " backsheesh " would enable me to pass to my relative such, 
private instructions as I did not wish other eyes to see. I 
took pleasure in evading such an unjust restriction, pre- 
venting prisoners who had not even been examined, indicted,, 
tried, or convicted — in many cases only held on suspicion — 
from communicating freely with their friends. Prisoners are 
not permitted to see the newspapers, and are kept wholly in 
the dark as to what is going on in the world, just the same as- 
if they were already convicts. 

In our own' country all this is different. A prisoner con- 
fined in jail awaiting trial is permitted all proper indulgences,, 
such as visits without listeners, food, fruit, newspapers, etc. 
Even in the Tombs, the New York city prison — that well- 
named sink of iniquity — visitors are admitted to stand at 
the cell door, as seen in the illustration, and talk to their 
heart's content. The bars leave spaces of four or five inches 
square so that the visitor can at least squeeze the fingers of 
the incarcerated friend. To show the difference : Being- 
rather dyspeptic I felt the need of some fruit, and when Gov- 
ernor Jonas made his round one day I asked him to let some- 
fruit be purchased for me, with some of my money then in his. 






AN UNFRUITFUL REQUEST. 137 

possession. He informed me that it was not in his power to 
grant my request, and referred me to the visiting magistrate, 
I think Alderman Sir Robert Carden, saying that he would 
bring him to me when he came to the prison. A day or two 
later my cell door was thrown open and in stepped the gov- 
ernor accompanied by the alderman. I stated my want, and 
after some conversation, he wound up by saying : " I can see 
that you are a gentleman, and I will talk to the governor 
about it, but such a thing has not hitherto been permitted." 

Whatever may have been the nature of his subsequent 
conversation with Mr. Jonas, I got no fruit, and I think I 
have remarked elsewhere that from the moment of my arrest 
to my discharge, nearly fifteen years later, the only " fruit " I 
ever had consisted of potatoes and cabbage. Think of that, 
ye gourmands, and beware ! 

The following extract from the London Times of July 2, 
1873, illustrates another phase of life in Newgate : 

(Extract from the last day's examination before the Lord Mayor.) 

THE PRISONERS, GEORGE AND AUSTIN 

EDWIN NOYES, AND GEORGE McDONALD, 
AT THE MANSION HOUSE. 

The prisoner George Bid well said he had an application to make 
to his Lordship (Mayor Waterlow). He had now been three 
months in Newgate, undergoing the most rigorous solitary con- 
finement, and on twenty-three occasions he had been pilloried in that 
dock. His position was greatly saddened by the fact that one who 
was so near and dear to him as his brother was should have been 
placed at his side on the same charge, and under circumstances 
which he desired to say were caused by himself alone. His brother 
was many years his junior, and owing to family misfortunes, he 
und several others had been placed, when quite young, under his 
charge (G. B's). He found, according to the rules of Newgate, two 
persons were sometimes permitted to occupy the same cell during 
some part of the day, and he asked that the privilege be granted to 
him and his brother. He appealed to his Lordship that this last 



138 



PRISONERS' APPLICATIONS. 



"boon — this last gleam of sunshine which they might ever be per- 
mitted to enjoy, — might be granted, — remembering that, in case 
of conviction, they would be forever separated from each other. It 
would be impossible for him to long survive the imprisonment which 
would follow a conviction. Austin also made the same request. 




VISITOR TRYING ON THE HANGMAN'S IRON PINIONING BELT AT NEWGATE. 

The Lord Mayor said it rested not with him, but with the visit- 
ing justices, who were this month Aldermen Sir William Rose and 
Lusk. 






VISITORS. 139 

The prisoner Noyes applied that a small ring given him by his 
sister before he left America should be returned to him. He had 
not applied before because he expected to be free. The Lord 
Hay or ordered it to be returned to him." 

In accordance with the Lord Mayor's statement I had ap- 
plied to the alderman above named, but my application failed 
— they avoiding a direct refusal by an "I'll see about it," 
"which I afterward found to be the hackneyed phrase regard- 
ing most applications. From July 2d, until August 18th, we 
were kept rigorously secluded, and though we were to be 
tried together, could have no opportunity for concerting 
a mutual defense. Had we been permitted to be together a 
few hours more or less every day, I could have prevented 
Austin from being taken in by the warders' imaginary plan of 
escape from Newgate. We were not even permitted to exer- 
cise in the same court-yard together. 

I was "favored" — people are curious to see caged ani- 
mals of all descriptions — with numerous calls, not of the 
■exact kind depicted in . the accompanying cut, where the 
gentleman is trying on the hangman's irons for the " amuse- 
ment" of the ladies, but from some of the " great guns " of 
the universe ; men, but for whose aid the world would cease 
to revolve, judging by the way some people cringe to their 
superiors in wealth — perhaps inferiors in all other qualifi- 
cations. 

One day, soon after my arrival in Newgate, a warder 
unlocked my cell door, and informed me that I was wanted 
in the consulting-room. Upon entering, I saw two men of the 
most opposite appearance — evidently a god and a demon. 
Alfred de Rothschild was a well-built man, above the medium 
height, with auburn hair, blue eyes, and a rather pleasing- 
expression of countenance, save that he looked as though he 
had been up late nights. He had the air of a gentleman, and 
I found him possessed of the manners and language charac- 
teristic of one, whatever his worldly circumstances. He was 
seated near one end of the desk which ran across the room 



140 MAN AND MONSTER. 

opposite the door. Seated at the opposite end was an under- 
sized man with a face on him such as I had never seen. He 
was evidently one of the " familiars " or followers — the 
usually unseen " shadows " and protectors — with whom 
money and other kings have, in all times, been obliged to 
surround themselves. His face was of an exaggerated He- 
brew type, his nose an eagle's beak, the eyes prominent, 
large, black, and lustrous, with very arching brows — the 
whole expressive of a diabolical cunning which could only 
belong to a Faust and a Mephistopheles combined. His one 
rapid penetrating glance at me as I entered the door, evi- 
dently satisfied him that it would be safe to let me ap- 
proach and speak with his master face to face. At the 
moment, not taking in the object of his presence, without 
halting I took a chair by the side of Mr. de Rothschild. 
The wardens stood outside, covertly peering in through the 
sash which formed the walls of the room, curious to fathom 
the design of a visit from so great a money-king. The pre- 
cise object of his visit I do not remember, but I took ad- 
vantage of the occasion to see whether anything could be 
done to relieve Noyes and my brother Austin from the 
probable consequences of their connection with McDonald 
and myself. 

During the interview, I said : " Mr. Rothschild, I believe 
most other men placed in the same circumstances, would have 
done much as I have. I was brought up honestly, and the 
greater part of my life I have been an honest man. I have 
plunged myself into a gulf of misery and degradation, but 
mark my words, I shall live to redeem my character, and, if 
force of will counts for anything, I shall not die until that end 
is accomplished." 

I have worked, suffered, and lived through fifteen years, 
the resolve then expressed being a beacon light — a light 
which for long years, though shining brightly, appeared very 
dim from its vast distance away, and at times it seemed to 
my wavering eyes to flicker and become extinguished, leav- 



A SUSPICIOUS MOVEMENT. HI 

ing me in the darkness of despair. Having been protected 
from birth against every rough wind, Mr. Alfred de Roths- 
child could see nothing in me worth saving, and the future 
will decide if he was right. 

ye mighty of the earth! who are yourselves living in 
luxury — even all who are going through life untroubled by 
unending struggles for existence — continue unobserving, 
thoughtless, and blind to the great ocean of misery ever ebb- 
ing and flowing beneath the placid surface of society, until 
the billows of socialism or anarchy suddenly overwhelm all in 
a common ruin ! 

A few days later the Lord Mayor Waterlow entered my 
cell alone. I had already been before him several times at 
the Mansion House. I do not remember what induced him to 
make the visit in question, unless to see for himself how I 
was standing the terrible ordeal, or to judge if I was the des- 
perado I had been represented. At all events, his manner 
was very affable, and he appeared much interested in the con- 
versation until, as we were standing face to face, I put my 
hand to my breast pocket to get a letter or paper to illustrate 
something I had been saying. Seeing the movement of my 
hand, he suddenly stepped sidewise, out of the cell door. 
Why he did so flashed through my mind instantly, and I 
was so shocked that I should be taken for an assassin that I 
could not continue the conversation. 

Whether he went and reported me as having an intention 
to assassinate him, I know not; but the circumstance led 
me to think, " If that is their idea of my personal character, 
what kind of a chance do I stand for an unprejudiced trial ?" 
In the subsequent trial Justice Archibald ruled against us 
in every objection made by our counselors, and granted every 
objection or request of the prosecution. But that Imperial 
Power, the Bank of England, was against us. 

On another day the Lord Mayor was doing the honors 
of the city to the Russian Prince Imperial, the present Em- 
peror. He brought him to my cell accompanied by a retinue 



142 THE PROSPECTIVE CZAR. 

of aristocrats, of course the class for whom the world and all 
it contains was created — I mean its pleasures and the dolce 
far niente, not its pains and labors. 

I presume the Lord Mayor "wished him to see me as an 
example of one of the products of modern financial civiliza- 
tion. The retinue remained gazing through the door at me, 
while the Prince stepped inside preceded by the Lord Mayor 
Waterlow, who put the " animal " through his paces, no doubt 
much to the Prince's edification. 

The Prince was condescendingly gracious enough to ask me 
some questions in perfect English, but really, though a 
wretched prisoner, I could get up no feeling of gratification 
at his notice beyond what I should have felt at the notice of 
any gentleman of education and refinement, and such an one 
the Prince surely was. I think I am entitled to call him an 
old friend, and to visit him at my earliest convenience in St. 
Petersburg. 




Chapter XV 



HELD FOR TRIAL — THE FATAL "NOT GUILTY" — A " TIMES " EDITORIAL — NOYES'f 
LETTER TO HIS BROTHER READ IN COURT — A TOUCHING SCENE — DEATH OF 
DETECTIVE M'KELVIE, WHO SECURED MY ARREST IN EDINBURGH — THE LORDS 
STIRRED UP. 

ON the 2d of July, 1873, occurred the last of the twenty- 
three preliminary examinations before the Lord Mayor 
Waterlow. It was, all together, an ordeal which I trust no 
young man who reads this book will ever be called upon to 
endure. Pilloried in the dock day after day, exposed to the 
gaze of unsympathetic and curious crowds of people, who 
coldly speculated as to the result of the trial, and endeavored 
to penetrate, by dint of staring, through the cloak of impassi- 
bility with which the prisoner attempts to hide his real feel- 
ings. When the Lord Mayor at last announced that we were 
to be held for trial, the knowledge that I should remain 
undisturbed for the month or more before it could take place 
seemed like a respite. 

I had made up my mind to plead guilty, believing that by 
doing so I should give the others a chance of escape, as their 
advocates could throw the onus on me. I had ascertained 
that we should be taken to plead to the indictments before 
Judge Chambers, and was assured by the experienced prison 
warders that if I pleaded guilty he would not give me more 
than seven years. But such a course on my part would have 
spoiled the " big case " which the Bank agents had spent so 
much time and money in getting up in order to let our fate 
be a warning to all who dared think of meddling with British 
money-bags. I believe, and always shall until assured to the 
contrary by Mr. Freshfield, that these latter had a potent 



144 THE HAND OF HO WELL. 

" influence " in causing Solicitor Howell to oppose my plan of 
pleading guilty, but as what he could say had no effect on my 
decision, he doubtless instructed my barrister, Mr. Besley, in. 
whom I placed confidence, to advise me not to carry out my 
intention. Accordingly on Tuesday, the 12th of August, we 
were taken before Judge Chambers, and when I in my turn 
stood up to plead, Mr. Besley stepped up to the dock and said 
to me, in a low tone of voice : 

" I hope you are not going to plead guilty?" 

Such a remark from such a source, at that moment, stag- 
gered me ; the clerk of the court was waiting my reply, and I 
blurted out the fatal words, "Not guilty" — words which cost 
me the possibility, nay, the probability, that I should never 
again see the outside of prison walls. Does it stand to reason 
that a gentleman like Mr. Besley would have caused me to do 
such a thing unless Solicitor Howell had instructed him to 
that effect, when even I could see that it was a foregone con- 
clusion that I was to be convicted ? 1 only mention these 
things to show that however cleverly a man may arrange hi& 
rascalities, " something " will happen by which in the end he- 
meets his just deserts. 

As a proof of this, in my own case, I will now give an 
account of the trial, which I have procured from an authentic 
source, and which will doubtless prove of interest to many 
outside of the legal profession. 

I shall intersperse some criticisms and explanations — not,, 
however, in the way of exculpations, but to show where prose- 
cutors and witnesses made mistakes in facts, identifications,, 
etc. I first introduce the account of the trial by the following 
editorial from the London Times of August 13, 1873 : 

THE BANK FORGERIES. 

Monday next has been fixed for the trial of George Bidwell, 
Austin George McDonald, and Edwin Noyes, the four 

Americans who stand charged with the gigantic forgeries on the 
Government and Company of the Bank of England. The prisoners 



"TIMES" EDITORIAL. 145 

will be arraigned before Mr. Justice Archibald, at the Central 
Criminal Court, and the trial will probably last the whole week. 
Meanwhile, the voluminous and circumstantial depositions taken 
before the Lord Mayor at the Justice Room of the Mansion House 
by Mr. Oke, the Chief Clerk, have been printed for the conven- 
ience of the presiding judge and of the counsel on both sides. 
They extend over 242 folio pages, including the oral and docu- 
mentary evidence, and make of themselves a thick volume, together 
with an elaborate index for ready reference. Within living mem- 
ory there has been no such case for length and importance heard 
before any Lord Mayor of London in its preliminary stage, nor 
one which excited a greater amount of public interest from first to 
last. The Overend-Gurney prosecution is the only one in late 
years which at all approaches it in those respects, but in that the 
printed depositions only extended over 164 folio pages, or much 
less than those in the Bank Case, in which as many as 108 wit- 
nesses gave evidence before the Lord Mayor, and the preliminary 
examinations — twenty-three in number from first to last — lasted 
from the first of March until the 2d of July, exclusive of the time 
spent in remands. 



Chapter XVI 



REPORT OP THE TRIAL AT THE " OLD BAILEY " — FIRST DAY, MONDAY', AUGUST 18, 
1873— THE LEGAL TALENT ENGAGED — ARGUMENTS FOR AND AGAINST POSTPONE- 
MENT—TRIAL MUST PROCEED — THE JURY — MR. GIFFORD, Q. C, OPENS THE 
CASE FOR THE PROSECUTION — HE OUTLINES THE PLOT — GIVES A SYNOPSIS 
OF FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS — AUSTIN'S LETTER TO MAC — MY OWN LETTER TO 
MAC — "A HELL'S CHASE AND NO MISTAKE " — ADJOURNED FOR LUNCHEON. 

ON the opening of the August sessions of the Central 
Criminal Court, this morning at eleven o'clock, the four 
Americans, George Bidwell, forty years of age, merchant — 
George McDonald, twenty-eight years of age, described as a 
clerk — Austin twenty-five years of age, described as 

merchant's clerk — and Edwin Noyes twenty-eight years 

of age, called a clerk — were put upon their trial before Mr. 
Justice Archibald, for the forgeries on the Governor and 
Company of the Bank of England. The court was much 
crowded from the beginning, and continued so throughout 
the day. Alderman Sir Robert Car den, representing the 
Lord Mayor, Mr. Alderman Finis, Mr. Alderman Besley, 
Mr. Alderman Lawrence, M. P., Mr. Alderman Whetham, 
and Mr. Alderman Ellis, as commissioners of the court, 
occupied seats upon the bench, as did also Alderman Sheriff 
White. 

Sheriff Sir Frederick Perkins, Mr. Under-Sheriff Hewitt, 
and M.r. Under-Sheriff Crosley, Mr. E. B. Green, Mr. R. W. 
Crawford, M. P., Governor of the Bank, Mr. Lyall, Deputy 
Governor, and Mr. Alfred de Rothschild, were present. The 

Note — I have caused certain portions of the following eight chapters, 
which contain an account of the trial, to be printed in italics, and it is to 
these, in general, that my interspersed comments refer. — G. B. 



THE PERSONNEL. 



149 



members of the bar mustered in force, and the reserved seats 
were chiefly occupied by ladies. Mr. Hardinge Giffard, Q. C, 
Mr. Watkin Williams, Q. C, Mr. Poland, Mr. H. D. Green, 
Mr. J. H. Crawford (instructed by Messrs. Freshfield, the 
solicitors of the Bank) appeared as counsel for the prosecution. 

The prisoner George Bidwell was defended by Mr. Powell, Q. 
C, and Mr. Besley ; Austin 

by Mr. Mclntyre, Q. C, and 
Mr. Moody (all instructed by 
Mr. Howell, solicitor) ; George 
McDonald, by Mr. Metcalf, Q. Ci, 
and Mr. Straight (instructed by 
Messrs. Wontner, solicitors), and 
Edwin Noyes by Mr. Bibton and 
Mr. Hollings (instructed by 
Mr. Howell). 

Mr. Powell, Q. C, addressing 
the judge, said he was instructed 
on the part of his client, George 
Bidwell, to apply to the court for a 
further postponement of the trial. 
There were no fewer than six- 
teen indictments against the 
prisoners, charging them with offenses of the gravest magni- 
tude. The evidence was most voluminous and very compli- 
cated, and the preliminary inquiry before the Lord Mayor 
lasted from the 1st of March, when Noyes was arrested, until 
the 2d of July, when they were all committed for trial. On 
the 7th of August the prisoners were served with a notice by 
the Bank solicitor, to the effect that no fewer than ninety- 
three additional witnesses, whose names they gave, and " divers 
other persons " might possibly be called upon the part of the 
prosecution. Except in one or two cases, the prisoners were 
kept in the dark as to the nature of the evidence the new wit- 
nesses would give, and it was therefore impossible, without 
some investigation, to be prepared with a reply to it. Those 




R. W. CRAWFORD, M.P., GOVERNOR. 



150 



NEW WITNESSES. 



witnesses, it was stated, generally would be called to speak of 
banking or bill transactions with one or other of the prisoners, 
abroad, or to produce letters written by them, and he need 
hardly say that these matters might, and doubtless would have 
an important bearing on the case. The prisoners had not had 

time to inquire into the evidence 
about to be given, or to instruct 
counsel with reference to it, and 
he submitted that it was only 
fair to them, under the circum* 
stances, that a further adjourn- 
ment should be granted. 

Assuming that the new wit- 
nesses would simply corroborate 
others already examined, the 
necessity for inquiry on the part 
of the prisoners was still very 
urgent, inasmuch as the pro- 
duction of such a mass of addi- 
tional evidence was almost an 
admission that the depositions- 
already taken failed in certain 
particulars or points that might be of importance to them. 
Looking at the fact that many of the witnesses lived on the 
Continent, and that only ten days' notice had been given to 
the prisoners by the prosecution, he urged that it would be 
taking the accused, who were foreigners, at a very great disad- 
vantage if the trial was hurried on at that moment, and that 
there would be a serious risk, and that justice would not be 
done them. He added that the application was not made with 
any view to unnecessary delay. 

Mr. Mclntyre, Q. C, supported the application on behalf 
of Austin observing that if the prosecution had, prior 

the last adjournment, formed an intention to call the new 




GEORGE LYALL, DEPUTY GOVERNOR. 



witnesses, they should, in fairness 
given them notice six weeks since. 



to the prisoners, have 
If, on the other hand, 



APPLICATIONS. 151 

the existence of ninety-three witnesses had been discovered^ 
or any necessity for calling them had transpired since that 
adjournment, the prisoners were certainly entitled, on every 
principle of justice, to an opportunity of defending themselves 
on the new points about to be raised. It was unfair to the 
prisoners to expect them to meet allegations which were not 
gone into before the committing magistrate, and of the sub- 
stance of which they were as yet unaware. 

Mr. Metcalf, Q. C, made a similar appeal on the part of 
George McDonald, urging that the case for the prosecution 
had been doubled in extent since it left the Mansion House,, 
that many new heads of evidence were about to be opened y 
and that it had been impossible, during the nine or ten days 
since the notice had been served, to make any inquiry as to 
the statements the witnesses would be called upon to give. 

Mr. Ribton, on behalf of Noyes, said applications for post- 
ponement were very frequently made in that court, and were 
hardly ever opposed or rejected, especially when they came 
from persons in the dock. As for his own client (Noyes) his 
case differed materially from that of the others, and it was 
very unfair to be informed, at the last moment, that it was 
proposed to show the previous acquaintanceship of all the 
prisoners in America, seeing that the accused men had no 
opportunity of inquiring into the character of the persons 
who were about to give such evidence. He should have 
thought that the Bank authorities, acting, as it might be sup- 
posed they did, solely in public interest, and possessing inex- 
haustible resources, would have been ready to consent to such 
a reasonable application. 

Mr. Giffard, Q. C, for the prosecution, strongly resisted 
the applications. He pointed out that, although the case had 
lasted upwards of four months at the police court, the delay, 
if any, had arisen from the fact that Austin had to be 

brought to this country from Havana, and McDonald from 
New York. The charge was in itself a very simple one, but 
the tracing of the various bills was somewhat complicated. 



152 TEE INDICTMENT. 

There was no legal obligation on the part of the prosecution 
to give the accused notice of fresh evidence, but such notice 
was invariably given out of mere fairness. It was quite 
impossible for any one at a preliminary inquiry to say what 
new witnesses might be forthcoming between the date of the 
committal and the trial, so it had been found in this instance. 
Of the new witnesses referred to, forty were bank clerks and 
others, who would, if necessary, give more formal proof on 
matters already investigated, and some of the rest would 
speak to the purchase by the prisoners of genuine bills at 
various places on the Continent, which were afterwards used 
as models for forged bills. 

There had been great difficulty in getting some of the wit- 
nesses from America and the Continent, and if the trial were 
again postponed there would certainly be a failure of justice. 
The application by the prisoners was simply made with a view 
to delay, and in the hope that some of the material witnesses 
would be wanting on a future occasion. He submitted with 
confidence that no cause for the "delay had been shown. 

Mr. Justice Archibald, having taken time to consider his 
answer, said he had carefully weighed all that had been urged 
on the part of the prisoners, and he had come to the decision 
to refuse the application, having a very clear opinion that no 
injustice to the prisoners would ensue if the trial proceeded 
without delay. 

A jury having been empaneled and sworn, Mr. Avery, 
the clerk of arraigns, addressing them, said the prisoners 
were severally indicted for forging and uttering on the 17th 
of January last, a bill of exchange for £ 1,000, purporting to 
be drawn by H. C. Streeter of Valparaiso, and accepted by the 
London and Westminster Bank, with the intent to defraud the 
Governor and Company of the Bank of England. In other 
counts he said they were charged in like manner with other 
forgeries, variously stated. 

Mr. Giffard then proceeded to open the case for the prose- 
cution. The prisoners he said were indicted for forging and 






THE CASE OPENED. 15:3 

uttering a bill of exchange for <£ 1,000, but that in reality 
formed but a very small part of the scheme, or fraud, which 
it would be his duty to lay before the jury. 

The charge against them was in substance that of uttering 
ninety-four bills of exchange, all of which were forged, and 
the effect of which was to obtain from the Bank of England 
very large sums of money. The jury would therefore at once 
perceive that they had to try a charge of fraud for which they 
might seek in vain a parallel in the criminal annals of the 
country. Such an enterprise, as might well be imagined, 
involved very considerable difficulties, but that all those diffi- 
culties were long contemplated the jury in the end would 
probably have no doubt, and as little doubt that they were 
surmounted with such consummate art as to produce a feeling 
of regret that the prisoners had not employed their talents to 
legitimate purposes in the ordinary business of life. More- 
over, that scheme of fraud, but for one of those accidents 
which had come to be embodied -in various shapes in the com- 
mon proverbs of the country, was all but successful in the 
result. The jury would, therefore, perceive the class of 
men they had to try, how deeply they had laid their plot, 
and with what consummate skill they carried it into execu- 
tion. The prisoners George Bidwell, Austin and 
George McDonald, as would be proved, came to this country 
in the spring of last year to set on foot an original scheme of 
fraud. The first difficulty with which they had to contend was 
to procure an introduction to the Bank of England or to some 
first-rate hank, and at which they might discount bills. Austin 
Bidwell had been accustomed to deal with a respectable firm of 
tailors named Green, in Saville Row, and one day in May, 
1872, having made a purchase from them, he stated that he 
was about to depart for Ireland, and that he had a large sum 
of money in his possession, of which he wished them to take 
charge in his absence. Mr. Green declined the responsibility, 
and suggested that he (Bidwell) should place the sum on de- 
posit at the Western Branch of the Bank of England, where his 



154 STORY OF THE FRAUD. 

firm banked. The suggestion was adopted, and he and 
Bidwell walked together to the bank, where they saw Mr. 
Fenwick, the sub-manager. Bidwell gave the name of Fred- 
erick Albert Warren, and having deposited the money, he 
innocently inquired if, supposing he had any further sum to- 
pay in, he need trouble Mr. Green who had introduced him, to 
come with him for that purpose. He was told that their 
account was henceforth his own and that he could pay in the 
money direct. The amount paid in upon that day was <£l,200 y 
and the prisoner subsequently deposited a further sum of 
£ 1,000. After that the account was allowed to rest until 
September, when the prisoner called at the bank, and requested 
Col. Francis, the manager, to sell for him £8,000 worth of 
Portuguese three per cent, bonds. This was assented to r 
and the prisoner drew .£2,000 on account. During that 
interview with the manager the prisoner stated, casually,, 
that he was an American contractor, or agent, charged with, 
the introduction on an extensive scale of Pullman's sleeping- 
cars into this country, and upon the Continent, that he was 
about to build them at Birmingham, and that he hoped to 
have some of them running for the impending exhibition 
at Vienna. The prisoner's account at the bank went on 
smoothly and regularly and no particular attention was paid 
to it by the authorities. (See page et seq.) 

It would be found that having obtained the all-important 
introduction to the Bank, and having overcome the preliminary 
difficulties, the next point with the persons concocting this- 
gigantic fraud was to know what to forge. During September 
and October, therefore, they were actively engaged in various 
capitals and cities of Europe in making inquiries as to the 
solvency and status of various large commercial houses, and 
the amount of respect their bills were likely to command in 
London, and to acquaint themselves generally with the ordinary 
course of transactions there and in this country, so that they 
might be perfectly armed at every step of their way. [I did 
the whole of that work. — G. B.] About this time two of the 



" YOUR HEALTH" 155 

prisoners became ill, and on the 5th of October Austin 

wrote a letter to McDonald containing this passage : 
u G. (meaning his brother) has just telegraphed if we shall 
not wait until you are completely restored, and in answering 
it I trust that you will not be governed by any thought that 
we want you to go on at once. Far from it ; the first consid- 
eration is your health, and if necessary we will postpone busi- 
ness until Christmas, and if you require rest for ten days or 
more, for heaven's sake take it ; it might be highly dangerous 
for you to stir about. Then, we have a good capital, and when 
ready can largely increase it on short order. Above all 
Ithings, if your health requires it let us wait, for business can- 
not be injured by delay ; it is only a matter of resting for 
that time." 

[In establishing his theory that the fraud was a long-con- 
templated one, Mr. Giffard made an effective usage of the 
' letter from my brother ; but it will be seen by reference to 
page that the first inception of the " scheme " was not till 

on or about the 1st of November, nearly a month later than 
the date of my brother's letter. The telegram referred to as 
from G. is one I sent from Amsterdam while prospecting in 
search of an opening for a " speculation " somewhere on the 
Continent.— G. B.] 

Mr. Giffard continued : The scheme had in consequence 
to be postponed, and the prisoners did not in fact commence 
active operations until Christmas. Between November and 
January George Bidwell, under the name of Gilbert, procured 
a large number of bills, which not only formed the model of 
the various forged ones, but, being paid into the Bank of Eng- 
land and duly honored, served to establish the mercantile 
credit of Warren there. It would be found also that either 
McDonald or Austin giving the name of Warren, 

went to Rotterdam and applied to a Mr. DcWael, a merchant 
there, for a draft on the London and Westminster Bank. 

He was told that there was only one person at Rotterdam 
entitled to draw on that bank, and that he charged highly for 



156 " CONSUMMATE SKILL." 

it. Warren replied that he did not mind the expense, but that 
he must have the bill on that particular bank, and he accord- 
ingly left £622 with Mi\ DeWael to purchase a draft, giving 
as his address in London the Golden Cross Hotel. [Another 
case of mistaken identification. I transacted that business 
with Mr. DeWael. — G. B.] Bills to the amount of between 
£4,000 and £5,000 were obtained by the prisoners during 
these three months, their evident object being to get first-class 
paper and induce the bank to discount their bills. On the 
29th of November Austin went to Col. Francis, and 

producing two genuine bills for £500, each accepted by 
Messrs. Suse & Sibeth, an eminent firm in London, asked him 
i£ he would discount paper of that sort. [Bills purchased for 
me by Mr. Pinto in Amsterdam. — G. B.] 

The manager promised to make inquiries, and finding they 
were first-class bills he discounted them. The prisoners hav- 
ing thus, with consummate skill and at one stroke, obtained 
credit with the Bank of England and the models for the 
forged bills which were to come, next provided for the distri- 
bution of the plunder and their means of escape. It was 
manifestly impossible that the money could be withdrawn in 
gold alone, and the prisoners no doubt felt that to receive it 
in* bank notes was the most dangerous course they could 
adopt. 

The difficulty was surmounted by the opening by Austin 
[By my direction. — G. B.], in the name of Charles 
Johnson Horton, of an account at the Continental Bank in 
Lombard Street, into which he could pay the money received 
at the Western Branch and then draw it out again in a differ- 
ent shape. The account was opened on the 2d of December 
[After McDonald's " great discovery." See page — G. B.] ? 
which day also introduced the jury to the fourth prisoner, Ed- 
win Noyes. He was in New York at the time, and the pris- 
oner, George Bid well, telegraphed to him in effect to come 
over to this country on the next steamer without fail. 

The jury would probably find in the end that a fourth per- 






A FOURTH PERSONAGE. 157 

son had become absolutely necessary to the successful execu- 
tion of the scheme. 

George Bidwell and McDonald had by that time become 
deeply concerned in it, and were thenceforward to be kept in 
the background. It was necessary, therefore, that some per- 
son who up to that time had been a stranger to the transac- 
tion should be introduced, and Noyes was selected for the 
purpose. On the 17th of December he arrived in England, 
and apparently without any luggage. In the previous August 
McDonald had been in communication with him by telegraph, 
and the jury would see eventually whether Noyes was the 
stranger he affected to be. He arrived in London on the 
17th of December, and on the 18th or 19th he was dressed 
up ior the part he had to play, and various precautions were 
taken to conceal his identity. It was absolutely astonishing 
to note in the progress of the fraud the number of aliases 
[see page ] the prisoners, with the exception of Noyes, 
had occasion to assume. The jury would have occasion, as 
the trial proceeded, to note the intimacy which existed be- 
tween Noyes and the other prisoners, and would find that up 
to the 11th of January, from his first coming to this country, 
he was in the closest relations with them. On Christmas day 
there was a dinner party at which all the four prisoners were 
present. That was the state of things up to the end of Jan- 
uary. During December neither of the prisoners, George 
Bidwell nor McDonald, had been idle. Austin . was 

the person to open the account at the Western Branch of the 
Bank of England, and part of the plot was that he should be 
out of the country before the first forged bill was uttered. 
[See page The other prisoners, as to whom the Bank 

could have no information, were not only the persons who 
procured the models for the forged bills, but who actually 
forged them. 

The jury would find George Bidwell going to various 
engravers for that purpose. He [Mr. Giffard] would not 
describe each individual transaction of that kind ; it would 



158 THE PULLMAN SHOPS AT BIRMINGHAM. 

suffice to say that whenever the prisoners obtained a genuine 
bill, they had the means in their own hands of counterfeiting 
it, by having recourse to engravers, and that by various expe- 
dients suspicion was disarmed. One of the forged bills pur- 
ported to b'e accepted at the London and Westminster Bank, 
and a stamp was fabricated so as to imitate that by which the 
genuine acceptance of the bank was accustomed to be made. 
It was necessary to protect the man Noyes, who was act- 
ing as Horton's clerk, and it was therefore clearly impossible 
that he could have any connection with Warren's account at 
the Bank of England. An extremely cunning device was 
then arranged. Austin explained to Col. Francis 

that his workshops were being constructed at Birmingham, 
and that his presence there was necessary ; and he stated that 
Iris bills, instead of being presented personally as hitherto, 
would be sent through the post in registered letters. The 
first letter was dated the 30th of December [two months after 
the first inception of the fraud. See Chapter — G-. B.], 

and contained ten genuine bills for £4,307 3s-. 6d., all of 
wmich were discounted and subsequently honored. On the 
5th of January an advertisement was inserted in the news- 
papers, by Noyes, to the effect that a gentleman of active 
husiness habits, and with a small capital of £300, required 
a situation as clerk or partner, and answers were to be 
addressed to him at Durant's Hotel, where he was then stay- 
ing. A •great many answers were received, and McDonald 
called at the hotel personally. [Another mistake in identifi- 
cation, as it was not McDonald who called at the hotel. — 
O. B.] After he left, Noyes told the waiter that he was his 
future master, and that he had deposited £300 with him as a 
guarantee for his good conduct. On the 11th of January a 
formal agreement was entered into between Charles Johnson 
Horton of London Bridge, a Pullman car manufacturer, and 
Edwin Noyes of Durant's Hotel, merchant's clerk, whereby 
Njyes agreed to serve the former as clerk and manager, at 
a salary of £150, the latter depositing a sum of £300 as 



THE ROTHSCHILD BILL. 159 

security for the due performance of his duties and honesty, 
said sum to be returned without interest on his leaving. The 
agreement was witnessed by Mr. Howell, a solicitor in Cheap- 
side, who was now defending the prisoners, and it was found 
in Noyes's possession on his arrest. It was evidently intended 
to shield him when the fraud was discovered, and when all 
the other parties had made their escape. Up to this time 
very good bills had been sent up to the Bank for discount, 
but before the forgeries commenced a grand coup was deter- 
mined upon. Accordingly Austin early in January, 
obtained a considerable quantity of foreign money and left 
London for Paris. On his way there he was considerably 
injured by an accident on the Great Northern Railway of 
Prance, but he turned the accident to account by introducing 
himself to Messrs. Rothschild, who had a close financial con- 
nection with the Railway Company. He induced them, against 
their ordinary practice, to sell him a bill of .£4,500, and with 
this he returned immediately to London. [I purchased all 
this foreign money in London, and sent Austin to purchase a 
bill from Rothschild, the railway accident having nothing 
to do with it, beyond influencing the bankers to accede to his 
request. — G. B.] He had an interview with Col. Francis, 
and in the course of it he complained in some degree that 
his bills were being unnecessarily watched, inasmuch as all 
which % he had presented were of the highest possible char- 
acter. [Complained that his bills were being unnecessarily 
watched ! If that statement is well founded, it should have 
been quite sufficient to arouse suspicion and cause inquiry — 
but no forger would be so stupid. — G. B.] He then threw 
down the bill of Messrs. Rothschild, saying he supposed that 
would be good enough for the Bank. It not being advisable 
for him to confess that he had left Birmingham and obtained 
the bill in Paris, he stated that the injuries from which he 
was suffering had been caused by a fall from his horse. He 
also stated that his workshops at Birmingham were full of 
new sleeping-cars, and that he expected his transactions to be 
very large in the course of the ensuing month. 



160 GOOD LAW AND COMMON SENSE. 

The scheme involved not only the protection of the con- 
spirators but the safety of the plunder, and accordingly it 
was, beyond all doubt, arranged that he should be on his way 
out of the country before the first forged bill reached the 
Western Branch of the Bank of England. It had been sug- 
gested at the preliminary examination before the Lord Mayor 
that because Austin was out of the country he was 

not amenable for this offense. That was neither sound law 
nor common sense. There was a very old legal maxim that 
a man who did an act by another, did it by himself. The 
prisoner, Austin might have done what he did either 

at Rome or Kamtschatka, but he would be equally responsible, 
notwithstanding. 

[The Northern Railway accident, while on his journey to 
Paris, and his engagement, caused Austin to give up connection 
with the partially prepared fraud, and he was absent on his 
" wedding journey." See Chapter for particulars. But 

Mr. Giffard's assertion is " good law and common sense," and 
should be a warning to any who contemplate perpetrating 
crime by proxy. — G. B.] 

On the 22d of January, 1873, in a letter signed by Warren^ 
dated on the 21st, came the first batch of forged bills to the 
Western Branch. That was the first experiment, and if it 
passed muster the scheme was successful. Austin 
would then appear to have fled, and Noyes could set up the 
defense that he had merely acted as his clerk. The scheme 
was successful ; the bills had been engraved by skilled artisans- 
and had passed muster ; the thing was done ; and having got 
the first forged bills discounted, the next step was to operate 
on the account previously opened to get the plunder, and to 
escape. But having obtained so much money, how were they 
to deal with it ? 

Notes could be traced. The scheme contrived was as 
artful as the rest of the fraud. Anybody presenting bank- 
notes at the Bank of England had a right to demand gold in 
exchange, but it might not be so generally known that the 



NOTES FOR GOLD — GOLD FOR NOTES. 161 

converse proceeding was equally easy, viz., that a person 
tendering gold at the Bank of England could receive its 
equivalent in notes. The device adopted in this case was 
this: 

One of the prisoners went to the bank with notes and 
obtained gold for them. Another of them went on the same 
day and obtained notes for the gold ; so that unless it could be 
shown that the two prisoners so acting were associated in a 
common design the connection between the fraud and the 
property actually obtained by it was broken. That process was 
repeated to such an extent that between the 21st of January 
and the 28th of February, the notes changed into gold by 
Noyes amounted to no less than £ 23,650, and the gold ex- 
changed for other notes by McDonald to £16,950. There 
was thus a large balance in favor of the amount in gold, but 
both it and the notes were afterwards expended in the pur- 
chase of United States bonds. Austin left this coun- 
try in the middle of January, and was married to an English 
lady in Paris. And he seemed to have gone about France 
and Germany selling the bonds which had been bought in 
London and buying others with a view further to destroy all 
trace of the proceeds of the fraud. [If he did so it was with- 
out my knowledge. — G. B.] About this time, also, Noyes 
sent out X 1,000 to some relations in America, and it was, 
therefore, idle to pretend that he was merely the innocent 
clerk of the other men. 

The business up to this point was eminently successful, 
and the diligence of the prisoners in the previous December 
was not without its reward. 

From the 28th of January every bill which was sent to the 
bank was a forgery and had been fabricated on the model of 
the genuine bills, Messrs. Rothschild included, which had 
previously been discounted. 

The first batch amounted to X 4,250 and was discounted 
on the 21st of January, and then came the following in quick 
succession. On the 4th of February, £ 11,072 ; 10th of Feb- 



162 AN "ACCIDENTAL WAY." 

ruary, £4,642 ; 13th of February, £14,696; 20th of February, 
£14,686; 24th of February, £19,253 ; and 28th of February, 
£24,265. The prisoner gave no address at Birmingham, but 
he explained that as he was staying with a friend a short dis- 
tance out of town he should like his letters addressed to the 
post-office there, and that was accordingly done. On the 1st 
of February, McDonald deposited £1,200, part of the proceeds 
of the forgeries, with Messrs. J. S. Morgan & Co., the Ameri- 
can bankers, and drew it out again on the twenty-first of that 
month. One of the bank-notes in which the sum was paid 
had been traced into the possession of George Bidwell, and 
another was found upon Noyes at the time of his arrest. In 
this transaction, therefore, the four prisoners were concerned. 
The first forged bill would become due on the 25th of March, 
and it was so arranged that during the whole of the time the 
forged bills were pouring into the bank the genuine bills pre- 
viously discounted were becoming due and being paid. 

While the prisoners were making their arrangements to 
escape, the forgeries were discovered in the most accidental 
way. Two bills for £1,000 each, purported to be accepted by 
, Mr. W. Blydenstein of Great St. Helens, had been made pay- 
able at sight, but curiously enough the date had been omitted, 
and the bank authorities suspecting nothing wrong, sent a 
clerk on to Mr. Blydenstein's office to get the omission sup- 
plied. The moment the bills were seen the forgery was dis- 
covered $ and the scheme of the prisoners was at an end. 
The bank found that Warren had been operating upon Hor- 
ton's account at the Continental Bank, and by a mere 
accident the chief cashier of the bank happened to be making 
inquiries there when the prisoner Noyes entered. He was at 
once pointed out and given into custody, and it was found 
that on the same day he had purchased £26,000 worth of 
American bonds, and had cashed a check of Horton's for 
£5,000. What was his conduct when arrested ? He knew that 
both McDonald and George Bidwell were within the grasp of 
the law, but he made no disclosure, and he merely gave an 



THE "PLANT" DESTROYED. 163 

address at Durant's Hotel, where he had not slept for a fort- 
night. He thus allowed his confederates time to collect the 
plunder, then lying at his and their lodgings, and to send it 
to other countries, the result being that some part of it was 
still unrecovered. A day or two later Bidwell and McDonald 
went to a hotel at St. Leonard's, and ordering a large fire to 
be prepared, they, as the prosecution alleged, destroyed all 
the plant used in the course of this scheme. [This is an 
error, it having been destroyed at Mac's lodgings in Lon- 
don, as previously stated. — G. B.] On the same occasion 
they sent to New York £ 50,000 worth of American bonds in 
a trunk addressed to Major George Matthews, which has since 
been seized by the police. In the rooms occupied by McDon- 
ald in St. James Street, blotting-paper was found bearing 
impressions of the writing in some letters addressed to 
Austin at New York, and of the stamps and endorse- 

ments of the forged bills, and a London directory was also 
discovered from which a list of engravers was cut. Mr. 
Giffard then went in detail into the circumstances of the pris- 
oner George Bidwell's escape into Ireland, of his ultimate 
arrest in Edinburgh, and read a passage in a letter addressed 
by him to George McDonald, as follows : 

Your friend has had a series of most extraordinary adventures 
since you saw him. A hell's chase and no mistake. His nerve 
has stood him through two taps on the shoulder, and four encoun- 
ters with detectives. He has been a Fenian, a priest, a professor, 
a Frenchman, a German, a Russian who could speak only ''veree 
leetle Engles, mais un peu de Francais et Allemand," and a deaf 
and dumb man with a slate and pencil, — all in the space of a week. 

The learned counsel also described the prisoner's unsuc- 
cessful efforts to get rid of some of the witnesses in the case, 
and his attempts to make sure that the property reached 
America safely. He also stated that George Bidwell had 
assumed sixteen different aliases. 

That he said was the case for the prosecution, and the 
jury would say by their verdict when they heard the evidence 



164 



LES M1SERABLES. 



whether it was possible to entertain the smallest doubt that 
each and all of the prisoners combined together in carrying 
out their gigantic scheme, and having as they thought de- 
stroyed all traces of the proceeds, sought to betake themselves 
to another country, and there enjoy their, ill-gotten gains. 

It being now five o'clock, and Mr. Giffard having finished 
his opening statement, after speaking upwards of three hours, 
the trial was adjourned until next morning, and the jury were 
escorted by a sworn officer of the court to the Cannon Street 
Terminus Hotel, to pass the night without separating. 

About one o'clock each day the court adjourned for 
luncheon. The illustrations will give an idea of what kind 
of a time the lawyers were having, while we poor wretches 
were put beneath into a large vaulted cell in the basement of 
the Old Bailey. Some food was brought in from a restau- 
rant, but none of us were in circumstances to feel jolly over 
our dinner. Neither of us could avoid the thought that a 
very slight turn in the tide of affairs, at some period of his 
life, might have made him one of the laughing lunchers 
above, instead of a miserable below stairs. 




Chapter XVII. 



THE TRIAL CONTINUED — SECOND DAY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 19TH — COL. PEREGRINE" 
MADGWICK FRANCIS, MANAGER OF THE WESTERN BRANCH OF THE BANK OF 
ENGLAND — COMMERCIAL CORRESPONDENCE — A ROTHSCHILD'S SIGNATURE. 

AT the opening of the court at ten o'clock, the trial begun 
the day before continued to excite much interest. 
Col Francis said : On the 22d of January I received the 
registered letter produced from Warren, and three bills en- 
closed with a memorandum. The amount was for £4,250, and 
the bills were endorsed by him. The letter was as follows : 

Birmingham, January 21, 1873. 

Dear Sir : — I hand you herewith, as per enclosed memo- 
randum, bills for discount, the proceeds of which please place 
to my credit. 

I remain, dear sir, Yours very truly, 

F. A. Warren. 
To Col. P. M. Francis, 

Manager Western Branch of the Bank of England. 

[Above and following letters were written by me, Warren 
not being in England. — G-. B.] 

Mr. Giffard, interposing, said : We propose to read the 
first bill now, as that is a subject of indictment. Mr. Avery, 
the clerk of the arraigns, said the bill was one for ^£1,000; pur- 
porting to be drawn by H. C. Streeter, and accepted, payable 
three months after date, by the London and Westminster 
Bank. This acceptance was in the names of Mr. II. F. Bill- 



168 AN OBJECTION. 

inghurst, the sub-country manager, and Mr. W. H. Nichols, 
signing on behalf of the secretary. Col. Francis, resuming, 
said : Those three acceptances are similar to some of the 
general acceptances given on the 30th of December. They 
were all discounted, and the account credited with the amount. 
They became due on the 31st of March, the 3d of April, and 
the 13th of April. They were presented in due course, and 
returned as forged. 

On the 25th of January I received the registered letter and 
memorandum produced from Birmingham, with the eight bills 
mentioned in the memorandum. The letter was as follows : 

Birmingham, January 24, 1873. . 
Col. P. M. Francis, Manager Western Branch Bank of England: 

Dear Sir, ■ — Enclosed I hand you bills for discount, as per 
enclosed memorandum, and which please have placed to my credit 
■on receipt. The reduction in Bank rate came quite opportunely 
for my wants. I am, dear sir, 

Yours very truly, F. A. Warren. 

I do not think the signature to the letter is Warren's. It 
is an imitation of it, but I took it at the time to be in his 
handwriting. I also took the endorsements to the bills to be 
in his handwriting. There were eight bills, and they were 
discounted by me and placed to Warren's credit. 

Mr. Mclntyre, interposing, objected to the admissibility of 
this evidence, on the ground that it was not proved to be in 
Warren's handwriting. Mr. Justice Archibald overruled the 
objection, saying it would be a matter on which to address 
the jury when the proper time arrived. Mr. Mclntyre sub- 
mitted there was no evidence of authority. The judge said 
he would take a note of the objection. Witness, resuming, 
said: The amount of the bills in question was £9,350, and 
that sum was placed to the credit of the account, on the 25th. 
Of the eight bills, two purported to be accepted by Messrs. 
N. M. de Rothschild & Sons, two by Mr. B. W. Blydenstein, 
one by the Anglo-Austrian Bank, one by Suse & Sibeth, one 
hy the London and Westminster Bank. 



NINE BANKERS TESTIFY. 109 

Mr. Alfred Charles de Rothschild was called and examined 
3T. M. de Rothschild & Sons. Being shown eight bills pur- 
porting to be those of his firm, he said the acceptance was not 
in the handwriting of any member of it. The stamp across 
the bill, he said, was an imitation of the stamp they used for 
acceptances, and was not genuine. Shown a genuine bill of 
their firm for £4,500, he said it was in the handwriting of 
Sir Anthony de Rothschild. 

Being cross-examined by Mr. Mclntyre, witness said that 
the bill was drawn by their house in London on their Paris 
house. He added that the acceptance of the forged bill was 
exactly that which the firm used. 

By Mr. Giffard : The signature to the forged bills pro- 
duced purported to be that of Sir Anthony de Rothschild, but 
in every case it was a forgery. There was a certain amount 
of imitation of the signatures, and some might think it good, 
but he did not. 

Mr. John Rudolph Lorent, manager of the Bank of Bel- 
gium and Holland — Mr. Herman Gwinner, manager of the 
International Bank of Hamburg and London — Mr. Charles 
John Sibeth, of the firm of Messrs. Suse & Sibeth, 35 Lime 
Street — Mr. Francis Hamilton, of the firm of Messrs. Brown, 
Shipley & Co. — Mr. Chas. Lloyd Norman, of the firm of 
Messrs. Baring Brothers — Mr. Mayern, clerk in the Russian 
Bank of Foreign Trade — Mr. J. T. Byng, assistant manager 
of the Union Bank — Mr. W. H. Trumpler, of the firm of B. 
W. Blydenstein & Co. — and Mr. W. H. Nichols, of the London 
and Westminster Bank — were also called, and gave similar 
evidence as to bills purporting to bear their acceptances. This 
•concluded that class of evidence, and the Court adjourned at 
iour o'clock for the day. Two of the jury were unwell, but 
the charge being one of felony, the members were not allowed 
to separate during the progress of the trial, and were taken, 
as on the previous evening, to the Terminus Hotel, Cannon 
Street, escorted by an officer of the Court, to spend the night. 



Chapter XVIII. 



MR. FREDERICK ROBERT RUMSET PATS CHECKS OVER THE COUNTER — MR. J. A. C 

GOOD DOES LIKEWISE — THE DEFUNCT BANKING HOUSE OF BOWLES BROTHERS 

AN AMERICAN GENTLEMAN — THE MANAGER OF THE CONTINENTAL BANK IN 
THE WITNESS-BOX — BANK OF ENGLAND NOTES EXCHANGED FOR GOLD, AND- 
VICE VERSA — CHECKS CASHED FOR LARGE SUMS, BY THE DOZEN — HEADQUAR- 
TERS REMOVED FROM THE TERMINUS HOTEL, LONDON BRIDGE, TO CANNON 
STREET HOTEL — WARREN CHECKS ON THE WESTERN BRANCH — HORTON BUYS 
GERMAN MONEY — £1,000 BANK NOTES — TRANSACTIONS WITH .JAY COOK, 
M'CULLOUGH & CO. — EDWARD BRENT, FREDERICK PEARSE, H. W. HUGHES, 

AND JOSEPH REESE ADAMS, EMPLOYES OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND, TESTIFY 

LIGHT WEIGHT SOVEREIGNS. 



MR. Frederick Robert Rumsey, a clerk in the Western- 
Branch of the Bank of England, proved from his. 
counter-book that on the 29th of November last he paid over 
the counter a check of F. A. Warren for £800 in seven £100 
notes, and two for £50 each. That was in one check. 

Mr. J. A. C. Good, also a clerk in the Western Branch of 
the Bank of England, proved that on the 2d of December he 
paid in exchange for a check of Warren for £ 1,250, twelve 
bank-notes for .£100 each, and £50 in gold. 

Mr. John Thomas Stanton, manager of the Continental 
Bank, 79 Lombard Street, which is also known as Messrs. 
Hartland & Co., said he saw the prisoners, Noyes and 
C. J. Horton, at the bank together. On the 2d of Decern- 



BUSINESS AT THE CONTINENTAL. 171 

toer last he first saw Austin He then called at the 

bank and opened an account with them. He said that he 
liad previously had an account with Messrs. Bowles Bros., 
and that he had been fortunate enough to have drawn from 
them £7,500 just before their suspension. Having asked 
witness what interest would be allowed, it was arranged that 
lie should open a current account with the Continental Bank. 
He opened that account in the name of Charles Johnson 
Horton, and signed the signature-book of the bank in that 
name, giving as his address the Charing Cross Hotel. Wit- 
ness understood that he was an American gentleman. The 
account was opened by his paying in XI, 300 in Bank of Eng- 
land notes, and he filled up a credit slip for that amount. 
Witness produced the notes, with the exception of £100 
which was changed for the prisoner. [These were the notes 
referred to by the last two witnesses.] That was the first 
time witness had seen him. Next day the prisoner called 
again and paid in £235 10s., in two checks — one of Messrs. 
Baring for £50, and the other for £185 10s. in the name of 
P. A. Warren, on the Bank of England. Those were credited 
to his account. On the 5th of December he paid in a check 
for £95 2s., with which his account was credited. On the 
same day a check was drawn out by him, signed " C. J. Hor- 
ton." [Check was for the amount of £1,000.] It was paid 
in bank-notes. On the 27th of December witness cashed a 
check for him for £100 by £90 in notes and £10 in gold. 
On the 30th of December a check of F. A. Warren on the 
Bank of England for £1,550 was paid in and credited to his 
account. On the 31st of December there was standing to the 
credit of Horton's account £1,645 lis. lid. On the same 
day he paid to Horton the sum of £85 in bank-notes in pay- 
ment of a check of his. On the 9th of January £3,000 was 
paid into the account in bank-notes, the credit-slip accom- 
panying the payment being initialed " C. J. H." On the 11th 
of January £500 was paid into the same account by Horton, 
and the account was credited with the amount. On the same 



172 CHECKS AND CHECKS. 

day .£3,933 2s. 10c?. was drawn out by, witness presumed, a 
check of Horton's, for which they gave him French notes for 
28,000 francs, and two drafts on Paris — one for 50,000 francs, 
and the other for 22,000 francs — both drawn on Messrs. 
Meyer Fils. On the 16th of January £1,250 was cashed over 
the counter in answer to a check of Horton's. On the 11th a 
new check-book was supplied to Horton, containing forty-eight 
checks. On the 16th of January £75 was drawn out by a 
check of his. On the 18th of January £3,304 16s. 9c?. was 
paid into the account in two checks on the Western Branch 
of the Bank of England — one for £1,600, and the other for 
£1,704 16s. 9c?. It was not stated upon whom the checks 
were drawn. On the 21st of January a check of Horton's for 
£2,000 was cashed, in ten bank-notes of £100 each, and two 
of £500 each. That was an open check paid ov.er the counter. 
On the same day a check of Horton's for £807 15s. in favor 
of Messrs. Jay Cooke, M'Culloch & Co. was paid. On the 22d 
of January a sum of £3,716 13s. 7c?., in two checks — -one for 
£2,300, and the other for £1,416 13s. 7c?. — on the Western 
Branch of the Bank of England, was paid in. On the same 
day a check of Horton's for -£400 was cashed over the counter 
by two notes of £50 and three of £100. On the 24th of 
January £2,200 on a check of Horton's was paid, and later 
in the day a check of his for £45. The larger sum was paid 
by a check of his on the Union Bank of London, and the 
-smaller check in bank-notes — one of £5, and two of £20. 

On the 25th of January, £3,400 was paid in by a check of 
Warrens on the ' Western Branch of the Bank of England 
for that amount. Witness knew the prisoner Noyes. He 
was introduced to him at their bank by Austin as his 

clerk. That was about the 18th of January. He said that 
Noyes was his confidential clerk and that they were to treat 
him exactly as they treated himself. Witness asked whether 
Noyes was to be allowed to sign checks. The answer was 
" By no means," or to that effect. Witness understood that 
Horton was then going to Birmingham. He did not think he 
saw Horton after that. 



LIVELY BANKING. 17$ 

Witness afterwards did business with Noyes in the way of 
cashing checks and paying in money. On the 25th of Janu- 
ary or the day after, he received a letter from Noyes, saying 
he was to hand the bearer the German money bought for him 
by C. J. Horton that day. Witness believed that Horton had 
bought some German money that day which they had not 
previously had in the bank. It amounted to 2,000 thalers 
odd, and was given to the bearer, who signed a receipt for it 
in the name of E. Noyes. Witness, however, sent a clerk from 
the bank with the messenger to room No. 6, Terminus Hotel, 
London Bridge, Horton's address. On the 25th of January, a 
check of Horton's for XI, 000 was paid in bank-notes, five of 
£100, and the rest in foreign money, florins and thalers, 
amounting to £502 odd. On the 27th of January, a check of 
Horton's for £451 15s. was paid in favor of Jay Cooke ■& Co. 
Next day a check of Horton's for £3,000 was presented and 
paid over the counter in seventeen £100 notes, five £50 notes,. 
and £1,049 17s. 9c?. in Dutch coin. On the 3d of February, 
£1,000 was paid in to Horton's account, the credit-slip for 
for which was signed " E. Noyes," in the prisoner's hand- 
writing. That was by a check on the Western Branch of the 
Bank of England. On February 4th, £3,891 14s. was paid in 
to the credit of Horton's account by E. Noyes. It consisted 
of a single check on the Western Branch of the Bank of Eng- 
land. On the same day, a check of Horton's for £1,320 was 
paid over the counter in six £100 notes, one of £50, one of 
£10, one of £5, and £654 Is. 9d. in Dutch florins. On Feb- 
ruary 7th, a check of £3,500 of Horton's was paid over the 
counter in notes, six of £500 each, and five of £100 each. On 
February 10th, a check of Horton's for £200 was paid over 
the counter in notes. On February 13th, £6,250 was paid 
in to the credit of Horton's account in two checks, one for 
£4,250, and the other for £2,000, on the Western Branch of 
the Bank of England, in the name of " F. A. Warren " the 
credit-slip being signed " E. Noyes." On the same day a 
check of Horton's for £65 was paid in notes. That sum wit- 



174 THE "BOOM' 9 CONTINUED. 

ness declined to send by a messenger whom Noyes had 
despatched for it with a letter addressed from the Terminus 
Hotel, London Bridge. Noyes afterwards called for the 
money himself, and requested that, in the future, witness 
would trust the messengers he sent. On February 14th, wit- 
ness received a letter from Noyes, containing a check of Hor- 
ton's for .£50, which witness cashed at his request, and sent 
hy the bearer to room 6, Terminus Hotel, London Bridge. 
On February 15th, a check for £332 10s. was paid into the 
credit of Horton's account. On the same day, he paid a check 
of Horton's for £4,000 in fourteen bank-notes, two of £1,000, 
two of £500, and ten of £100. On February 17th, £1,200 
was paid in to the credit of Horton's account, in a check of 
" F. A. Warren " on the Bank of England. On the same day, 
he cashed a check of Horton's for £2,800 in bank-notes, one 
for £1,000, two for £500, one for £200, five for £100, and 
two for £50. On the 20th, he paid a check of Horton's for 
«£ 1,000 in one note, and that was enclosed in a letter, at the 
request of Noyes, addressed to Horton at the Cannon Street 
Hotel, and sent by a messenger. On February 21st, a check 
of Warren's for £4,500 was paid in to Horton's credit, the 
slip for which was in Noyes' handwriting. On February 
25th, £4,500 was paid partly in bank-notes on a check of 
Horton's made payable to himself, viz. : four notes of 
£ 1,000 each, one of £100, being, said Mr. Poland, one of a 
hatch contained in the envelope produced yesterday by the 
witness, Mr. Duncan. On February 26th, £2,277 10s. was 
paid in to the credit of Horton's account, credit-slip for which 
was signed by Noyes — in two checks, one being a check of 
Warren's for £2,100, and the other a check of Jay Cooke, 
M'Culloch & Co.'s for £177 10s. On the 27th of February 
a check of Horton's for £100 payable to " self or order " was 
sent, as directed in a letter from Noyes, to C. J. Horton, 
Boom 8, Cannon Street Hotel. Next day a check of War- 
ren's for £6,000 was paid in by Noyes and was payable to 
Thomas Carter or order. On that occasion Noyes ordered a 



MR. MAY BLOCKS THE GAME. 175 

Teiy large sum of foreign money to be got ready for him by 
the next day, principally in French notes and the rest in 
thaler notes. Witness believed the amount of foreign money 
lie 'ordered was larger than £ 2,000. On the same occasion, 
Noyes received cash for a check of Horton's dated the 28th of 
February, for £ 2,000 in two bank notes of £ 1,000 each. On 
March 1st, Noyes called again, and produced a credit-slip 
signed by himself for X 2,500, handing in at the same time a 
check of Warren's for .£2,500 on the Bank of England pay- 
able to C.J. Horton. By that time witness had got a por- 
tion of foreign money for him, but it was arranged that he 
should call for it again later in the day. He called again a 
little before one and then produced for payment a check of 
Horton's payable to self or order for £5,000. He had to wait 
a short time while the check was being collected. Mr. May, 
a gentleman connected with the Bank of England, came into 
the bank while Noyes was waiting. Upon that witness 
pointed him out to Mr. May, who had brought in a policeman 
with him, into whose custody Noyes was then given. Wit- 
ness had not at that time paid the £5,000 check presented by 
Noyes. 

The witness underwent cross-examination by Mr. Mcln- 
tyre, Q. C, and Mr. Ribton, but without his evidence in chief 
in any material respect being impaired. He said, however, 
on every occasion for a considerable time, he dealt with 
Noyes, believing him to be Horton's clerk, but after Horton 
said he (Noyes) was to be treated with as much respect as 
himself, witness thought Noyes was to be treated as somewhat 
of a principal. Horton, however, gave witness emphatically to 
understand that Noyes was not to sign checks. 

Mr. Edward Brent, a clerk in the issue department of the 
Bank of England, said he knew the prisoner Noyes as a 
person who used to come from time to time to the bank to 
exchange notes into gold. On every occasion he asked the 
prisoner whether the gold was for home use or for exporta- 
tion, and in most cases Noyes said it was for home use ; in 



176 



AN ESTIMATE. 



the other cases, at a later period, he said it was for Paris. 
He gave as his address 28 Manchester Square, Durant's 
Hotel. The total value of" the notes he so exchanged was 
£13,285. 

Mr. Frederick Pearse, a clerk in the issue department of 
the Bank of England, handed in an estimate of the quantity of 
notes which had been exchanged for gold at the bank. 




WEIGHING OFFICE, BANK OF ENGLAND. 



Mr. H. W. Hughes, a clerk in the weighing-room of the 
Bank of England, said he knew the prisoner, McDonald. On 
the 18th of January he saw that prisoner talking to the prin- 
cipal of the weighing department. The prisoner had brought 
£ 6,300 in gold which he wanted to exchange into notes- 



"SOVEREIGNS." 177 

Witness found there were twenty-three sovereigns too many, 
and he told him so. He replied that he was not aware of it. 
The prisoner gave his name as George McDonald and told 
him how to spell it, saying he had great difficulty in getting 
people to spell it correctly. On February 23d, the prisoner 
called again to exchange £650 in gold for notes. Witness 
took him to the proper department to have exchange effected. 
On another occasion he brought X 9,000 sovereigns of which 
fifteen were light and those very slightly so. [See my remarks 
in Chapter about exchanging those sovereigns. — G. 

B.] On February 25th, he came again bringing 1,000 sov- 
ereigns. On that occasion the prisoner was kept waiting 
somewhat longer than usual, and was very fidgety. He rang 
the bell once or twice and wanted to know the reason of the 
detention. He had been detained half or three-quarters of an 
hour. 

Mr. Joseph Reese Adams, principal of the issue depart- 
ment, said he recognized the prisoner, McDonald. He saw 
him on the 28th of January at the bank and asked him where 
he got the gold. The reply was either that it came from Lis- 
bon, or that he brought it from Lisbon. Being asked if he 
got the gold from Knowles & Foster, of Lisbon, to whom the 
bank shipped largely, he said he did not. The weight of 
sovereigns was twenty-one pounds troy-weight to the 1,000. 

At this point, the court having sat nearly seven hours, the 
case was adjourned until the following day at ten o'clock. 
The jury, as before, were conveyed in charge of the ushers of 
the court to the Terminus Hotel, Cannon Street. 

It might become tedious to go into all the details of this 
memorable trial, in the course of which innumerable trifles — 
each unimportant by itself — were brought out during the 
examination of 108 witnesses from various parts of the world, 
until these became a web that enwrapped and rendered escape 
impossible. , 

I will, however, give some of the salient events of the 
trial, and hasten on to the final catastrophe, followed by the 
dramatic events during my fifteen years* incarceration. 



178 



THE OPENING OF THE TRUNK. 



The box was afterwards opened in the presence of witness, 
who found in it three bundles of bonds, representing in all 
$220,920. He also found in it some visiting cards bearing 
the name George Bidwell, two watches, some wearing apparel, 
and dies for stamping. Some of the bonds were wrapped in 
a nightshirt, and others in some soiled linen. The box was 
opened in the presence of several witnesses whom witness 
named. Witness eventually handed all the contents over to 
the receiver, who gave witness a receipt for them. 

Mr. Charles M. Da Costa was next called. He deposed 
that he was a member of the law firm of Blatchford, Seward, 
Griswold «& Da Costa, of New York, who he said had acted 
as solicitors there to the Bank of England during these 
proceedings.. He was present at the opening of the trunk 
produced, and afterwards had delivered to him the bonds pro- 
duced, and other property, by Mr. Jarvis, the receiver ap- 
pointed by the Supreme Court of New York. The property 
having been claimed, as the direct proceeds of the forgeries, 
it was immediately turned over to Mr. Peter Williams, of the 
firm of Messrs. Freshfield, solicitors to the bank. It included 
American bonds worth in English money about £ 45,000, 
which were tightly folded up in three parcels, just as they 
were now, at the bottom of the trunk among some soiled 
linen. The trunk also contained some watches and dies, with 
the monogram " G. B." engraved on them, also a little bag of 
foreign coins, a large collection of shells, an elegant new 
dressing-gown, and clothes of different kinds. Witness also 
obtained from the post-office at New York, through Mr. Jar- 
vis, the receiver, the two packages produced, one addressed 
G. C. Brownell, Esq., Brevoort House, Fifth Avenue, New 
York, and the other addressed Austin Esq., New 

York, U. S. A., care of New York Safety Deposit Co., No. 140 
Broadway. They had" been detained there by Mr. Jarvis, the 
receiver in the suit, and handed over to witness's firm eventu- 
ally. The envelope of the second letter bore English stamps, 
and the New York postmark of March 13, 1873. It was a 



MAIL PACKAGES OPENED. 



179 



registered letter, and bore the London postmark of the 25th 
of February last, and also the Cannon Street postmark. It 
contained bonds for $17,500 or -$17,600, equivalent to about 
£3,700 in English money, and the seals on the envelopes 
corresponded with one of the dies found in the trunk. The 
other package, addressed G. C. Brownell, Esq., bore the New 
York postmark of March 20, 1873, and also contained 
$17,500. It likewise bore a similar seal to that of the other. 
Witness also procured from the receiver a letter (produced) 
addressed George M. McDonald, Esq., Post-office, New York 
City, U. S. A. It was dated the 11th of March last, and bore 
the Edinburgh postmark of that date, and that of New York 
of March 24th. It also bore part of the impression of a seal 
with the monogram " G. B." Witness also produced other 
letters similar in various respects, found in the trunk, and 
with that his evidence concluded. 




Chapter XIX. 



THE TRIAL CONTINUED — EIGHTH AND LAST DAY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 26TH — AN 
AFFECTING LETTER — NOYES TRIES TO SAVE THE OLD HOMESTEAD — HE LIKES 
TO STAY IN EUROPE! — A LETTER OF CONDOLENCE — MY LETTERS FROM ED- 
INBURGH — THE CASE FOR THE PROSECUTION CLOSED — MR. METCALF, 
Q. C, TAKES A FORMAL OBJECTION, WHICH IS OVERRULED — MR. GIFFARD, 
Q. C, SUMS UP THE EVIDENCE ON THE PART OF THE PROSECUTION — McDON- 
ALD'S STATEMENT TO THE JURY— GEORGE BIDWELL'S REMARKS CUT SHORT 
BY JUDGE ARCHIBALD — MR. McINTIRE'S PLEA FOR AUSTIN — MR. 

RIBTON ADDRESSES THE JURY ON BEHALF OF NOYES — JUDGE ' ARCHIBALD 
SUMS UP — JURY RETIRES — BRING IN A VERDICT OF " GUILTY " — AUSTIN 

EXONERATES THE BANK MANAGER — LAST APPEAL OF THE PRISONERS — 
SENTENCED FOR LIFE. 

THIS was the most interesting day in a trial of unprece- 
dented interest. The court-room of the Old Bailey 
was packed, and, as on other occasions, the lobbies were 
filled and a crowd in the street waiting in the hope of eventu- 
ally obtaining admission. Many of the nobility and gentry 
were present. 

Mr. Giffard, Q. C, put in several letters written by the 
prisoners, and they were read by Mr. Read, the deputy clerk 
of arraigns. The first was written by Noyes to a brother in 
America, enclosing a letter of credit for <£ 1,000 obtained by 
him on January 29th from Messrs. Baring Brothers : 

London, January 29, 1873. 

Deae Beother J , — I have this day registered a letter to 

you containing £1,000 sterling, which you will collect to the best 
advantage. The bankers will charge from one-eighth to one-quarter 
per cent, for collection. There is a premium on London Exchange. 
Before collecting it post yourself as to exchange, so that they will 
not charge you exorbitant rates. On it you will get two premiums 
— that on London, and the difference between the value of gold and 



THE SON AND BROTHER. 181 

greenbacks. I think it will amount to about $5,500 ; I cannot tell 
exactly, but do the best you can. After you collect it carry $1,400 

over to C to pay S . $750; he will also pay that bond 

of $600 that father owes H K for that woodland. The 

bond is indorsed by J McL , so you will see that K will 

sicken at the prospect of getting a hold of our homestead. The 
bond in Pratt Street let remain until my return. Take $250 
yourself, to buy your wife a $150 sewing machine and other things 
as a present from me. Do not let anyone else know but that you 
bought them yourself. Also, deduct your expenses to go to Spring- 
held and out home. Also, hand Robert C $50 if he should want 

it as a loan. Take a receipt for it, to be paid to father when conven- 
ient, if I am not at home. The balance you may place to my 
account in the First National Bank of Hartford, subject to be 
drawn by my sister in case of accident to me, or death, or a longer 
absence than six months. Make it draw interest. If they will not 

give interest, put it into the iEtna Bank. H will introduce you. 

I am trying to persuade a friend of mine, an English gentleman, to 
go to America and enter business. If 1 succeed it will perhaps 
throw us together. It is not certain when I shall return to Amer- 
ica. These Englishmen are such sticklers for country it is hard to 
start them. I confess that I am beginning to like to stay in Eu- 
rope. [Poor fellow! He is staying abroad longer than he likes. — 
G. B.] More anon. Yours ever, Ed. 

The following letters were written by George Bidwell shortly 
after his escape from Ireland, while in hiding at Edinburgh : 

Edinbuegh, March 13, 1873. 
Dear M., — Your friend has had a series of the most extraor- 
dinary adventures since you saw him; a hell's chase, and no mis- 
take. His nerve has stood him through two taps on shoulder and 
several encounters with detectives. He has been a Fenian, a priest, 
a professor, a Frenchman, a German, a Russian, who could speak 
only a " veree leetle Englese, mais un peu de Francaiset Allemand.'' 
and a deaf and dumb man with a slate and pencil — all in the space 
of a week. 

March IS. 

It made me nearly sick to read what I enclose. [Alluding to 

what I saw in the papers, showing how our real names had trans- 



182 THE LAST WITNESS. 

pired, through my plans in the way of precautions not having been 
executed as I all along supposed. — G-. B.] It is all right as long as 
I keep inland, but the moment I touch the borders there is the 
devil to pay. I ran through an awful gauntlet last week in Ireland. 
Who would have dreamed they could have got on track so soon as 
that! There was a job put up from Hastings, and I had a hard rub 
at Cx [meaning Charing Cross]. I am delaying, as every ' day 
changes my appearance. Of course it is impossible to say what. 
move or when 1 shall make one, but my present opinion is that I 
shall be in London when this reaches you. The telegraph, and I 
suspect the post also, is an open book for these parties. I suppose 
they have procured special permit.' Therefore, do not on any 
account use the telegraph. 

Mr. Albert Gearing, proprietor of the Terminus Hotel,, 
London Bridge, who was called at the request of Mr. Ribton, 
proved that the prisoner, Austin in the name of C. J. 

Horton, hired on the 11th of January last a sitting-room in 
his hotel, and that he subsequently introduced the prisoner 
Noyes as his clerk. The room was kept until February 21st. 

That was the case for the prosecution. A formal objection 
was taken by Mr. Metcalf, Q. C, on the part of ' McDonald, that 
it had not been proved, in conformity with the Extradition 
Act, that the crime with which he was now charged was that 
for which his surrender was obtained in America, but it was 
overruled by the judge. 

Mr. GifTard, Q. C, then summed up the evidence adduced 
on the part of the prosecution. He said he was entitled,, 
under recent statute, to elicit from his learned friends on the 
other side, whether they intended to call witnesses or not, 
and they having informed him that they were not about to 
present any further evidence to the jury, it became his duty 
to close, with a few remarks, the case which he had presented 
to their decision. It was clear as a matter of law that if the 
particular bill which they were now discussing was forged 
and uttered in pursuance of a common design and scheme 
participated in by all the prisoners, all of them were equally 
guilty, though only one of them actually traced the signature 



APOLOGY FOR COLONEL FRANCIS. 183 

upon it. The question, therefore, for the jury was whether 
all or any of the prisoners had participated in a design to forge 
and utter that among a' great many other bills. Although 
the unity of design comprised, as he urged, the whole of the 
prisoners, yet the evidence applicable to eacli was, however, 
identical, for they were all tainted with the same guilty 
design. A scheme of this character and magnitude was hap- 
pily very rare, if not quite unknown, in this country ; for it 
was incredible that persons like the prisoners should have 
sought to taint the whole currency of commerce in this coun- 
try by a portentous crime of this nature. The bank author- 
ities had been twitted for being so easily led into a net of that 
kind, but let the jury consider what were the circumstances in 
which Colonel Francis, the manager of the Western Branch, 
was placed. His customer was a person who pretended to be 
conducting large commercial transactions in this country and 
all over the Continent, and his bills were of the highest pos- 
sible character, and were discounted and paid with facility. 
If there had been ever any genuine business transacted by 
the prisoner, Austin let him call witness to prove it ; 

but in the absence of such proof, he denounced that business 
as one for the mere manufacture of forged bills, and a device 
to dispose of proceeds. Genuine bills to the amount of be- 
tween X 8,000 and £ 9,000 were first of all discounted by the 
Bank of England, and these bills, it had been proved, were 
purchased on the Continent by one or other of the prisoners. 
They not only established the credit of Warren at the. bank, 
but they served as the models for the forged bills which were 
subsequently sent in. In the forged bill in question, the form 
upon which it was written, and the various stamps on its sur- 
face, were purchased by George Bidwell. It was filled in and 
signed by McDonald, and it bore the endorsement of Austin 
[Austin was out of England, and did not put on the 
endorsement. — G. B.], to whose credit the amount of the 
discount was placed. It was therefore shown in this one 
instance alone that three of the prisoners had been concerned 



184 THE JURY CAUTIONED. 

in forging and uttering the bill. <£ 65,000 (about $825,000) 
had been expended by Noyes in the purchase of American 
bonds., and £10,000 by McDonald, and the rest of the money 
had gone in other directions — the whole of it having first been 
withdrawn from the Western Branch, then paid into Horton's 
account at the Continental Bank, and subsequently changed 
from gold into notes, and vice versa. The examination of the 
witnesses had proved that Austin had left England 

about the 18th of January, but though absent he was never- 
theless engaged in the fraud, for he was found purchasing 
bills on the Continent, which served as models for other 
forged bills. [No bills purchased by him after January 18th 
served as models for forged bills. I supposing him to be on 
his way home, made it necessary that his continued presence 
on the Continent should be concealed from me. It was his 
engagement which caused him to remain in Europe. — G. B.] 
As to George Bidwell, it was proved beyond question that he 
had procured various stamps and plates from five different 
engravers, and that all those stamps appeared on the whole 
of the forged acceptances, and that he had written from Bir- 
mingham the letters to Col. Francis enclosing bills, many of 
which bore his endorsement. McDonald had been also shown 
to have filled in the bill forms, and forged the names of the 
drawers and acceptors. Mr. Giffard then referred to the case 
of the prisoner Noyes, urging that, so far from being an inno- 
cent clerk, as was alleged, he was one of the most active par- 
ticipators in the fraud, and that, like the others, he shared in 
the proceeds. In conclusion, he advised the jury to receive 
with great caution any statement which the prisoners, or any 
one of them, might make as to the innocence or guilt of the 
rest, observing that it would not be under oath, and that the 
person making it would not be exposed to any cross-examina- 
tion, and could not be interrogated by the court. [David 
Howell, our solicitor, informed the prosecution of the subject 
on which McDonald and myself were intending to address 
the court and jury, thus enabling Mr. Giffard to forestall and 



MAC'S PLEA FOE AUSTIN. 185 

frustrate any effects our subsequent statement of facts might 
liave had in favor of my brother and Noyes. — G. B.] He 
asked the jury to say by their verdict that all the prisoners 
liad been engaged in one common design to commit a crime, 
the magnitude of which was almost unexampled in the history 
of this country. 

Mr. Metoalf, Q. C, addressing the court, said he had 
attended very carefully to the whole case on the part of 
HeDonald, together with the summing up for the prosecution, 
and he did not think it would be attended with any good 
-effect for him to address the jury. More than that, McDon- 
ald himself desired to make a statement with the consent of 
the Bench. Mr. Besley made a similar announcement on the 
part of the prisoner George Bidwell. The prisoner George 
McDonald then proceeded to address the jury, and the whole 
audience listened with deep attention. He said : 

The statement I have to make to you, gentlemen of the jury, 
was alluded to towards the end of Mr. Giff ard's speech, and from 
what he said, I* perceive he has been informed or conceived 
some idea himself as to what it was my intention to say. 
He tells you that any statement which I can make to you is 
not evidence, and can be received by you only with great cau- 
tion. I do not attempt to deny that, but nevertheless, I think 
that my statement will be supported by the testimony which 
the prosecution has elicited, and that it will merit at least a 
Tery careful consideration at your hands. I can easily con- 
cede that it would be very difficult in my case to make any 
difference whatever, but as I believe that no person is in a 
position to give a more accurate or faithful account of this 
whole business than I am, I propose to show you, that in the 
case of one person at least, if I cannot show it by direct evi- 
dence, it is certainly worthy of considerable attention — I 
mean the very great probability of Austin out ire 

innocence in the actual fraud. My only reason for making 
this statement is that the truth may be known in regard to 
him, for I am well aware that every word I am saying to 



186 FLATTERING TO AMERICAN ABILITY. 

you now cuts from under my feet any hope that I may have- 
entertained for myself. It seems to be the idea of the prose- 
cution — an idea which they have endeavored by every mean& 
in their power to bring you to believe — Mr. Justice Archi- 
bald, interposing said : "As I understand you to say that 
what you are now saying cuts away the ground of any 
defense from under your own feet, I can only allow you 
to address the court and jury on your own behalf, and not 
on behalf of any other person. I do not know to whom you 
are alluding, but each of the prisoners are represented by 
counsel, and if you propose to address the jury on behalf 
of any other person beside yourself, I cannot allow you." 

McDonald. : I have not the audacity, my lord, to appear a& 
counsel for any other of the prisoners. What I intend to say r 
is simply a statement of facts. 

The Judge : You can urge anything on your own behalf. 

McDonald : It is on my own behalf, but it is perfectly 
impossible to make the statement I am about to make without 
referring to the others. I was saying that the idea of the 
prosecution, which they have endeavored to inforce on your 
conviction, is that the original intention with which Austin 
George Bidwell, and myself, came over, to this coun- 
try was to perpetrate this fraud on the Bank of England. I 
think if that idea could be entertained it would argue for us a 
knowledge and a prescience something more than men of ordi- 
nary ability and attainments could pretend to. It would sup- 
pose that we were perfectly acquainted with the mode of doing 
business in England, that we knew some person or other who 
had an account with the Bank of England, that we could by 
some well-devised plan get sufficiently into the confidence of 
that person to obtain from him an introduction to the Bank of 
England, and that all the other minor details, which have 
been so fully explained in the course of this investigation, 
would all work together for our benefit, would all turn out 
precisely as we desired, and that in fact, nothing at all would 
interfere to prevent the carrying out of the fraud. When we 



CIRCUMSTANCES, AGAIN. 187 

first came to England, it was certainly with no such intention. 
Mr. Green, of Saville Row, has told you that the opening of 
the account with the Western Branch of the Bank of England 
was an entire accident, and so it was. That was done on May 
4th, and on May 28th we three left England. We left Eng- 
land without the slightest intention of returning. Circum- 
stances occurred to induce us to change our plans, and we 
came back two months later. There is no doubt but that the 
intention was to close the account with the Bank of England, 
because it was of no use. But when we came back to Eng- 
land it was of considerable use and advantage to us to cash 
.any bills that might come to us. 

We went from England to the Continent, and our inten- 
tion, while there, was to do certain business between Vienna 
and Frankfort-on-the-Main. Circumstances arose while we 
were at Vienna to prevent that business. In the meantime 
I was taken very seriously ill, and returned to England for 
the benefit of medical advice. George Bidwell was in Amster- 
dam, and he sent me a bill drawn on Baring Bros., which I got 
cashed myself, by which I saw that the manner of doing busi- 
ness was entirely different than in America. 

As soon as I saw how business was transacted, I sent a 
telegram from the station next adjoining the Alexandria 
Hotel, to George Bidwell, in Amsterdam, and I stated in 
that telegram that I had made a great discovery. That tele- 
gram, I dare say, could be found, but as it would tend to show 
that the fraud could not have been contemplated so early in 
the transaction, it has not been brought forward. In Amer- 
ica, when bills are presented at a bank for discount, or when 
acceptances are presented, it is the custom to send them 
round to the persons accepting, to be what is technically 
called " initialed," in order that their validity and genuine- 
ness may be certified. I found that was not the ease here, 
and the result of the discovery is, that I am standing before 
you to-day. 

Mr. Pinto, from Amsterdam, has told you that George 



188 AUSTIN'S WITHDRAWAL. 

Bidwell purchased bills drawn from Amsterdam upon Ham* 
burg, which bills a day or two afterwards were sold again, and 
others drawn upon London purchased with the proceeds, and 
the bills so obtained were afterwards discounted by F. A. 
Warren. The matter went on in that way for some time,, 
until the 11th or 12th of January Austin went over 

to Paris to buy the bill on Messrs. Rothschild which has been 
so much commented upon — that for ,£4,500. During this, 
voyage or journey to Paris, he met with a very severe railroad 
accident, in which one man certainly was killed outright, and 
I think two or three more, and Austin had probably 

as narrow an escape from being smashed to pieces as any 
man ever did. On arriving in London he was in such a con- 
dition that it was almost impossible for him to move. He 
was taken to a hotel and visited by a physician, Doctor Coul- 
son, who told him he was in very great danger of being par- 
alyzed for life. On January 17th, when Austin took 
that bill to the bank, I went with him as far as the door, and 
afterwards helped him back to my quarters. I think on the 
following day the doctor saw him, and Austin then 
told him it was his intention to leave England immediately. 
The doctor informed him that if he intended to travel he 
must do so at once. The evidence goes to show that up to 
this time every preparation had been made for the contem- 
plated fraud. January 18th was Saturday, and after the 
doctor's interview with Austin who was then in my 
room, he told me that it was his intention to utterly with- 
draw from anything connected with this or any other similar 
matter. You can easily conceive that up to this time a great 
deal of money had been thrown away in continually trans- 
ferring the papers. The idea of losing that money and hav- 
ing no return for it was very displeasing, but as Austin 
was determined to leave, and did, I could only let 
him go. On Dr. Coulson's advice, Austin decided to 
travel at once, and he left with me two checks, one drawn on 
the Western Branch of the Bank of England, and the other on 



MIS PERIL LED TO PENITENCE. 189 

Harcourts & Co. (Continental Bank), to obtain the balance 
of this account and invest the proceeds in United States 
bonds, which were to be forwarded to him in Paris. These 
two checks were cashed, and the proceeds left in my hands. 
The first forged bill was sent from Birmingham on January 
21st. Mr. Chabot has told you that in his opinion the 
endorsement " F. A. Warren " on the bills was in his own 
handwriting. It was not. No one knows that better than I 
do. My hand was the one that put the endorsements on the 
forged bills of exchange. 

Mr. Chabot, the expert, also says the checks on which 
the moneys were drawn from the two banks were in Austin 
handwriting, and were all signed at one sitting. 
Several of them were signed at one sitting — I give that credit 
to Mr. Chabot — but not by Austin - I can refer you 

in particular to the check which went to the Western Branch 
of the Bank of England, in which the name of Horton was 
misspelled. It is admitted that Austin was then on 

the way to Havana. Mr. Chabot does not state positively 
that these checks were signed by Horton; the Continental 
Bank was perfectly well satisfied that they were signed by 
Horton, and I think the expert in that bank was quite as 
well able to judge as Mr. Chabot whether the signatures were 
genuine. 

Referring again to the accident on the Northern Rail- 
way of France — when Austin arrived at my quarters 
in London, his first statement to me was this : " Mac, I have 
had as miraculous an escape from instant death as perhaps 
any man has ever experienced." He went on to elaborate 
his sentiments during the accident, and wound up by saving* 
that so deep an impression had been made on his mind, in 
those few moments of peril, that he should certainly have 
nothing more to do with whatever might affect his personal 
convenience, liberty, and happiness in this world, but also 
place in jeopardy — according to the view from which he 
looked at it — his eternal happiness. I think, gentlemen of 



190 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 

the jury, that this is not a far-fetched statement, but is proba- 
bly one that will commend itself to your attention .as being 
worthy of a great deal of consideration, namely, that a man 
of his age could not have so absolutely and entirely forgotten 
the sentiments implanted in youth as to be indifferent to such 
a warning. For myself I am willing to confess that, proba- 
bly from not having gone through such an ordeal myself, 
I gave the matter but little attention for the moment; in 
fact, I laughed at it and at him ; but all I could say did n'ot 
change his mind, and on the following morning he left 
England. 

He left everything in confusion, as far as this business 
is concerned, and in a state of unreadiness. When the first 
bills were sent into the bank, the intention only was to recoup 
the loss on the money transactions, and then clear out. But 
when the facility with which they were received and dis- 
counted was considered, it was determined to carry the thing 
farther, and to do so it was necessary to get up bills, have 
printing done, and stamps made, and there was very little time 
to do it in. Mr. Giffard, in his address, asked what was the 
object of the account. The object was very plain. I do not 
propose to insult your understandings, gentlemen, by saying 
that a fraud was not contemplated at one time, but you may 
perhaps be inclined to believe that such a statement as I am 
now making is made only with one motive. Does it redound 
to my advantage ? does it help to clear me at all ? or do I 
state to you anything that is intrinsically improbable ? I 
think not. J have no doubt Mr. Giffard has had a great deal 
of experience in this sort of business, and I dare say he will 
believe me when I say men engaged in an illegitimate trans- 
action do not place very much confidence in each other. And 
if there were an intention, in spite of the withdrawal of one 
party, still to carry out the original scheme, it is not likely 
that party, after having entirely withdrawn, should be in- 
trusted with any confidence concerning the scheme. He asks 
who were benefited by it; and if he sifts the matter, I think 



"DECEIVED AND IMPOSED UPON." 191 

It could be very easily explained. He said it would be very 
difficult to prove any such statement as I am now making, 
which is but the simple truth. 

Since Mr. Chabot first took upon himself the profession of 
an expert, business of this kind, like every other, has made 
very great strides. It has become, as one of the newspapers 
said, an art. 

The Judge : What business do you mean ? 

I mean fraud, and a very wretched, unhappy, miserable, 
and contemptible art — it may be to a certain extent called 
an art, nevertheless. Mr. Chabot would induce you to believe 
that these checks were left signed by Austin I am 

unwilling to allow that statement to be left as it was by Mr. 
Chabot on your minds, when you come to meditate on your 
verdict. My only object is to make as much reparation as 
can be done to Austin who, in spite of Mr. Giffard's 

statement as to its improbability, has been deceived and im- 
posed upon, and has had his confidence violated. If I am 
successful in pressing that view of the case upon you, I shall 
have obtained all I can ask for. If I am not I can only regret 
it, but I ask when you go to consider your verdict, to bear in 
mind the statement I have made, to consider whether there 
is anything intrinsically improbable in it, and to say whether 
it is at all likely that I would stand up here and through any 
other motive than the one I have mentioned, make observa- 
tions which must necessarily be prejudicial to myself. That 
is all, gentlemen, I have to say to you. 

[Although I sat by McDonald's side when he made the 
above statement, I had forgotten what he said about the date 
of the first conception of the fraud and the opening of the 
Warren account at the Bank of England. What I have said 
in relation to those events in Chapter and elsewhere, 

was written before I had seen his statement in print. It will 
be seen that our accounts agree. — G. B.] 

The prisoner, George Bidwell, addressing the jury, said 
there was much he could have urged in his defense by way of 



192 AUSTIN'S COUNSEL SPEAKS. 

comment on the evidence ; but, notwithstanding that, feeling 
from his sense of guilt in having aided in carrying out the 
forgeries, it had been his intention to throw himself on the 
mercy of the court. With that view he had prepared a state- 
ment ; but after what Mr. McDonald had said, it would be 
mere repetition in him to attempt it. He confirmed that 
statement, which he said was the truth and nothing but the. 
truth, adding that Noyes was never trusted by them, and 
only did what he was told to do. Mr. Justice Archibald,, 
interposing, told the prisoner, George Bidwell, he must con- 
fine himself to his own defense, seeing that Noyes was 
defended by counsel. George Bidwell said he only wished to 
lay the facts before the court. Mr. Justice Archibald said he 
could have pleaded guilty, in which case he might have been, 
called as a Witness and given his evidence on oath. George 
Bidwell replied that he had not been aware of that. Mr. 
Justice Archibald said he might have been informed of it. 

Mr. Mclntyre, Q. C, speaking in behalf of Austin 
said he had to contend that the prosecution had failed to 
substantiate the charge preferred against his client. He 
knew perfectly well that the magnitude of a crime or the 
seriousness of the consequences of a verdict of guilty would 
never deter an. English jury from doing their duty ; but he was 
also sure that they would require in a case of that kind the 
clearest and most indisputable evidence, and failing to obtain, 
it, however suspicious the surrounding circumstances might, 
be, they would acquit the prisoner. He urged that the evi- 
dence was utterly inconsistent with the guilt of Austin 

A great mass of evidence had been placed before them r 
showing the antecedent connection of the prisoners, and a 
vast number of other circumstances, but he challenged them 
to find any proof that, with the bill in question, Austin 

forged or uttered it, or was even aware of the forgery. 
They could not convict him unless they actually believed that 
he was concerned in the fabrication of the bill, or that it was 
carried out with his cognizance and connivance. It had been. 






A STRONG ARGUMENT. 193 

clearly proved that some time in 1872 the brothers Bidwell 
and McDonald were living in an obscure neighborhood in 
London, and that on paying a casual visit to Mr. Green, their 
tailor, in Saville Row, Austin producing a large 

sum of money requested him to take it and keep it until his 
return from a short journey. Mr. Green hesitated, and upon 
his suggestion he introduced the prisoner, unfortunately for 
him, to the authorities at the Western Branch, who at once 
agreed to open an account with him. He contended that at 
that moment there was no fraudulent design upon the bank, 
and that to the end of the year, and even for some time in 
January the transactions in respect to that account were per- 
fectly honest. 

The prisoner left this country on January 18th, three days 
before the first batch of forged bills arrived from Birmingham, 
and from that time his personal connection with the account 
ceased. Mr. Mclntyre complained that the bank authorities 
had not thought fit to make any inquiries at the address 
which the prisoner gave in London, and that although pos- 
sessing a branch at Birmingham they never instituted any 
investigation as to the solvency or to the position of their cus- 
tomer, who represented himself to be living there and from 
whom they were receiving almost daily large batches of bills. 

It is also inconceivable that they should without suspicion 
have dealt so largely with a person who only gave his address 
at the post-office in that town. The prosecution had failed 
to prove that Austin was ever at Birmingham in his 

life. It had been admitted by Col. Francis that he at first 
believed all the letters containing the bills to be in Warren's 
handwriting, and -the bills to bear his indorsement, but it has 
since been proved by Mr. Chabot that nearly all those letters 
and indorsements were written by George and not by Austin 
He urged that such was the case in the bill in ques- 
tion, and he asked the jury to believe that Austin had never seen 
either of them, he being out of England at the time. It was 
quite clear that Austin possessed money of his own, 



194 MR. RIBTON'S PLEA FOR NO YES. 

for before any of the forged bills were discounted, £ 17,000 
had passed through the bank in respect of his account. It 
was thus that he accounted for the possession of the bonds 
and money found at Havana, and for the circumstances that 
his brother and McDonald sent him other bonds on his jour- 
ney thither. It might be that he was willing to join in the 
venture to some extent, but it was clear that after his acci- 
dent he changed his mind and had nothing more to do with 
the matter. All the stamps and blocks were purchased after 
he left, and not one of the forged bills was presented while 
he was in the country. In conclusion Mr. Mclntyre made an 
earnest appeal to the jury to acquit his client. 

Mr. Ribton followed on behalf of Noyes, observing that 
his case differed entirely from that of any other, and that 
there was not a tittle of evidence which would Warrant the 
jury in convicting him. On December 17th Noyes arrived 
in Liverpool from America and went to London, where he 
inserted an advertisement in a newspaper applying for a situ- 
ation as a clerk or partner. The result was that he was 
taken into the service of the prisoner, Austin who 

had assumed the name of Horton, and he deposited with him 
as security the sum of £300. A formal agreement was 
entered into on January 11th between the parties, and on the 
same day Horton took an office at the London Bridge Hotel, 
and introduced Noyes as his clerk. From that time to the 
date of his arrest he discharged the duties of his position, and 
these duties had special reference to the paying in or cashing 
of checks on his master's account at the Continental Bank, 
and the purchase of American securities. 

The jury would recollect that the fraud of the other pris- 
oners commenced in May last, when the account at the Bank 
of England was opened — that between May and November 
they were engaged upon the Continent, in purchasing genuine 
bills as models, and that the account of Horton at the Conti- 
nental Bank commenced on the 2d of December. All these 
transactions happened, therefore, before Noyes arrived in 



THE JUDGE SUMS UP. 195 

England, and he had no knowledge of mem. He was evi- 
dently acquainted with the ocher prisoners, as it was proved 
that he associated with them directly upon his arrival in 
London, but he was entirely ignorant of any fraud that was 
in contemplation, and so he remained down to the time of 
his arrest. Not a single fact has been proved which would 
lead to the belief that he was concerned in the forgery, 
but throughout the whole transaction he had been the inno- 
cent dupe of the other men. He admitted that his client 
had assumed other names than his own but none of them 
had been used to promote the fraudulent scheme. There 
was no evidence to show that Noyes had any knowledge 
of Warren's account at the Western Branch or that he 
ever saw any of the forged bills, and there was good ground 
for believing he was kept in darkness on all these points. 
The jury might regard him if they chose as an adventurer 
who was anxious to make money, but there was not a scintilla 
of evidence to show that he had ever been connected with the 
forgery. It was perfectly clear that Noyes had been selected 
to perform the part of an innocent assistant. 

Mr? Justice Archibald in summing up said the prisoners 
were indicted for forging and uttering a bill of exchange for 
£1,000 with intent to defraud. That was the offense charged 
against them, but in the course taken by the prosecution they 
had laid before the jury evidence to show that the prisoners 
were all concerned in a fraudulent scheme for the purpose of 
defrauding the Bank of England. He did not propose to 
minutely go over the evidence adduced in the case, because it 
would doubtless be fresh in the minds of the jury, and espec- 
ially after the statements of the prisoners George Bidwell and 
McDonald who had virtually admitted their guilt. McDonald 
had openly confessed his participation in the fraud, and 
George Bidwell had adopted his statement though without 
confessing his guilt. As regards George Bidwell, there was 
no doubt that he was guilty of forging the bill in question 
and many others. The learned judge then reviewed the evi- 



196 "GUILTY." 

dence with great care, with a view to ascertain for the guid- 
ance of the jury how far the remaining prisoners Austin 

and H . had been concerned in the fraud. He observed 
that Austin had left England in January, yet if he 

made arrangements for the forgery to be continued in his 
name he was just as guilty as though he had written and 
signed the bill himself. 

The jury retired to consider their verdict shortly after 
seven o'clock, and on returning into court after the lapse of 
about quarter of an hour, they gave in a verdict of guiltv 
against all of the four prisoners. 

On being asked if they had anything to say why sentence 
should not be passed upon them, Austin replied that 

he had nothing to say for himself, but that he would take 
advantage of the only opportunity he would have to repair a 
wrong he had done to a gentleman then in court, and for 
which he was extremely sorry. He alluded to Col, Francis, 
manager of the Western Branch, hoping that as years rolled 
on he would forget the wrong. That gentleman had been 
the subject of considerable criticism, but speaking from his 
knowledge of the case, he would say any other man in 
London would have been deceived in the same manner. 

George McDonald observed that he had nothing to say of 
the verdict as far as he was concerned, but that Noyes was 
ignorant of the forgery, and Austin at the time 

out of England. 

George Bidwell said he did not ask any consideration for 
himself, but he begged that his brother, who was a young man 
and but recently married, might be dealt with mercifully. 
Referring to the prisoner Noyes, he said that he had been 
kept in ignorance of the real state of the affairs. 

Noyes, addressing the court, said he was innocent of the 
proceedings of the other prisoners, and was kept in the dark as 
to who the man Warren was. He concluded by making an 
earnest appeal to the judge to temper justice with mercy. 



"PENAL SERVITUDE FOR LIFE." ^97 

Judge Archibald proceeded to pass sentence. He said : 
If I could conceive a worse case of forgery, then less than the 
maximum might have been sufficient ; but, as I cannot con- 
ceive a worse case,* I cannot perceive a reason for mitigating 
the sentence. That sentence is, that each and all of you be 
kept in penal servitude for life, and, in addition to that, I 
order that each of you shall pay one quarter of the costs of 
the prosecution [£35,000]. 



* Justice Archibald '' cannot conceive a worse case" of forgery! 
After our crime has been expiated by fifteen years of the worst kind of 
slavery — while not wishing to palliate anything in the way of crime, or 
•even anything that violates the Cardinal Principle of life, " treating others 
as we should wish to be treated " — I can do no less than call attention to the 
.apparent prejudice against us exhibited by him on numerous occasions 
{luring the trial. And this is well illustrated by the preceding paragraph. 
If the honorable Judge is still alive, let him answer the following question: 
Considered in its moral bearings, and, judging from the relative degree of 
misery caused, which is the worst act : To obtain money by fraud from a 
corporation like the Bank of England, to which millions are but a drop in 
the bucket, or to get away the investments and savings of thousands, 
including the jointures of widows and the inheritances of orphans, leaving 
them to drag out lives amid deprivation and want — and worse? To give 
but one of dozens of instances which have happened in this very England 
during our imprisonment: The managers of the Glasgow Bank perpetrated 
all the enormities shadowed forth above. . The evidence was conclusive, 
and the proofs indisputable, but they were not Americans, had influen- 
tial friends, and therefore got off with sentences varying from twelve 
months to two years. They were soon again at liberty to perpetrate 
fresh frauds, leaving those of their victims who are not dead to struggle to 
this day for existence — some of their fair daughters to end wretched lives 
as nymphs du pave, and I have seen some of the sons in prison. — G. B. 

The son of the judge who tried us at the Old Bailey, Mr. Archibald, now a barrister of The 
■Temple, London, states: "During the trial I sat beside my father, taking notes for him. 
Hundreds of Americans flocked to the court. The scene on the last day was extraordinary. 
Every one believed a rescue would be attempted. That is why you were sentenced without a 
moment's delay after the jury had rendered the verdict of 'guilty.' Besides the swarms of 
officers in uniform and in citizen's dress, all officials, including the judge and officers of the 
court, were armed; and we all breathed a sigh of relief when the sentence of ■ penal servitude 
for life ' was passed and you four Americans were safe behind the bars of Newgate. Were my 
father now alive and had the sentence to pronounce again, I do not believe it would be one of 
life for your brother and Noyes. I have no doubt, if alive, he would sign a petition for their 
release, which I am glad to do, and will aid your efforts for the release of your brother Austin 
to the best of my ability." 



198 PERSONAL. 

Good-natured reader — you who have followed my tortuous footsteps 
almost through a lifetime — a lifetime of experiences the like of which I 
trust may never fall to the lot of another — the limit of this volume is* 
now reached — the end has come ! • 

The months occupied in the preparation of these pages have been — 
aside from painful but necessary retrospections — a period of unalloyed, 
happiness. Freedom — home — friends! — why should I not be happy? 
Instead of the coldness and rebuffs, which the unwarranted proceeding in 
New York harbor led me to anticipate, I have received only kindness, en- 
couragement, and valued assistance from the best men and women in the 
world. Fortunate indeed it is that my associations and surroundings have 
been of so healthful a character. Would that all, in circumstances corre- 
sponding with my own, might enjoy like ennobling influences! 

What more fitting time than this beautiful day in June for paying my 
tribute of acknowledgment to those benefactors? Reclining dreamily, my 
attention is aroused by the hum of bees around my hammock, which 
swings from the friendly projecting arms of a conical-shaped pine at the 
foot of the lawn, its myriads of tufts and buds swaying to the summer 
breeze and filling the air with soft murmurs. Glancing upward, my view 
is obstructed by majestic ancestral elms, together forming a gigantic bower. 
The melody among the grand old boughs reveals the nesting-places of 
many birds. Joyous creatures! Who would not be happy as a bird in 
June? Alas! my lost — irrevocably lost — scores of Junes! How full of 
life everything appears. Yonder a squirrel scurries circling up the trunk of 
a poplar. Apple, quince, cherry, and plum trees, 

With flowers and shrubs, here widely spread, 
, Shed rich perfumes around my head. 

A pair of robin red-breasts are hopping fearlessly about; there to the left, a. 
little jenny -wren is picking at the pea-blossoms, the product of seed planted 
and tended by my own hands, from which I hope ere long to be rewarded 
by a feast of green peas — the first in fifteen years! It is too pleasant, the 
air too delicious, to remain indoors; and seated near me is the modern Pene- 
lope—from whom Folly separated me so long — watching the sports of 
grandchildren. Their merry iaughter brings to the youthful-appearing 
grandmother's lips an answering smile, and a look of the old-time happi- 
ness to her still handsome features. 

Somehow, I feel that when these closing words of mine are being read, 
'I shall be permitted to regard each reader as a friend. To such I say in 
parting, Come and see me at my pleasant home amid the elms — wife, chil- 
dren, grandchildren, clustering around me. John Howard Payne could 
never have appreciated "Home, Sweet Home" as I now do. 

Good-bye, dear readers— and in the language of Tiny Tim, "God bless, 
us everyone!" G- B 

" The Elms," East Hartford, Conn. 



APPENDIX. 



AUSTIN CASE. 



AFTER eighteen years' incarceration on a life sentence at 
twenty-five, charged with a crime against property only, viz. : 
being an accomplice in the passing of fraudulent bills of exchange 
on the Bank of England, for which he has been punished beyond 
all reason, and that opinion is sustained by the officials of the bank, 
who have written to the American minister that they will not op- 
pose his release, he says : 

. " Counting from my birth to this hour, I have passed more than 
one-third of an ordinary lifetime in a Chatham prison cell. If we 
exclude the immaturity of youth and the helplessness of old age, 
then I have lost more than one-half of my earthly life. And is there 
any crime under heaven where property alone is involved that such 
an eternity of suffering ought not to expiate? I do not intend to- 
say anything more on that point, either now or at a future time; I 
only desire to remark that if I am rescued at all, it must be soon. 
But if left to perish in my misery, I will not repine." 

The following is an extract from a late letter: 

" Truly, if a man in my position means not to be conquered, he 
must laugh at all physical discomfort, however severe. Still, I 
have not yet attained such perfection of character as to enable me 
to enjoy suffering, nor am I so in love with the extreme of misery 
and wretchedness as to want it to continue one hour longer than 
is absolutely necessary. I really think it time that my trans- 
gressions might be forgiven and forgotten. My early manhood 
and all my prime have gone to pay the debt, and still more is re- 
quired. But let them pour on, I will endure, don't fear for that." 

Note. — After serving nineteen years from date of his arrest the writer 
of above letters was reprieved, since this Appendix was published in pam- 
phlet form. Efforts will not cease until the other two Americans shall 
he freed — all four having- been adjudged equally guilty^ 



200 APPENDIX. 

A PARODY ON JUSTICE. 

Atrocious murderers have been pardoned out of this same 
Ohatham prison during the time Austin has been incarcer- 

ated there. Here are the names of five only: 

Charles Wales, sentenced to death in 1874, but changed to 
penal servitude for life. Released in 1884. 

McConnion, a soldier, sentenced to death in 1877 because he 
kicked his victim to death, was an out-and-out ruffian and a bad 
character in prison. At time of commutation of sentence the Home 
Secretary said that the only ground for commutation to penal servi- 
tude for life was because the military authorities erred in not 
removing the boots from his feet when put in the guard-house. 
He was released in 1887 simply because his colonel desired it. 

George Ash, sentenced at Stafford in 1874 for cutting his 
wife's throat (not quite fatally) ; two previous convictions for 
assaulting her. Twenty years' sentence and a free pardon in 1884. 

Wood, sentenced for a similar offense to life, in 1879, pardoned 
in August, 1889. 

Lascelle, a Manchester banker, for shooting his wife, sentenced 
in 1881 for 20 years, and pardoned in August, 1889. 

Mr. Hind Smith, of the Y. M. C. A., Exeter Hall, London, and 
E. J. Bassett, Esq., of the iEtna Insurance Company, Hartford, 
Conn., and others, went to Chatham prison to visit Austin 
They were greatly pleased with the interview, and said that the 
authorities spoke of him in the highest terms, and declared that he 
was the best man ever under their charge. 

In 1886, after he had been incarcerated thirteen years, the Home 
Secretary replied to a petition for his release: "That it was too 
early as yet to entertain the question." Many years have since 
passed, and he still languishes in Chatham prison. 

In 1873 Sir Sidney Waterlow examined 108 witnesses against 
the accused; therefore he was able to judge as to the varying de- 
grees of their guilt. After an interval of seventeen years the writer 
met him in the fall of 1890 at the Windsor hotel, New York. Al- 
most his first words were: " George Bidwell, your brother ought to 
have been freed years ago, and you kept." I have proved there was 
no mistake in freeing me; why hold the lesser guilty? 

"Lord Hershell brought before the House of Lords the subject of the 
inequality of sentences. Mr. Justice Matthews has recently protested with 
righteous indignation against the monstrous penalties imposed by some 
judges for petty acts of theft. Lord (Judge) Coleridge has repeatedly ut- 
tered such remonstrances. Some of her Majesty's judges deal out periods 
of penal servitude with positively frightful recklessness. It is almost 



APPENDIX. 



201 



To show the opinions of some of England's greatest men, I have 
tthe honor to submit copies of letters, etc., appended to a petition for 
Austin release. Notwithstanding the influence of such 

•eminent names, the petition was refused, because of what was said 
by the American press about my own release — some of the news- 
papers asserting that I would unfailingly plunge back into crime. 
<Of course, if that should prove to be the truth, the authorities would 
ibe justified in preventing him from joining me in a criminal career. 
But I trust the time is not distant when they will be disabused of 
ithat belief. 




JOHN BRIGHT. 

18 Clifford Street, W. (London). 

Dear Mr. Matthews, — May I venture to ask you to consider 
the case to which this letter or memorial refers, and to express my 
opinion that to consent to the petition would be an act not only of 
mercy but of wisdom. 

A life sentence on a young man of 25 years of age for an offense 
against property, seems to me very harsh and inconsistent with the 
better feeling prevailing in our time. 

Pray forgive me for thus addressing you. An act of mercy will 
ziot lessen the confidence of the public in your eminent office. 

Yours very sincerely, 

John Bright. 



always, however, for offenses against property that these ferocious punish- 
ments are inflicted. It is a sad commentary on the so-called Christian 
civilization of England that the administration of its laws should often 
give more protection to the property of the rieh than to the lives of the 
poor." — London paper. 



202 APPENDIX. 

To Right Hon. H. Matthews, Home Office: 

July 12, 1887. 
I heartily support the request of Mr. Bright. 

J. Chamberlain (M. P.). 

Aug. 1, 1887. 
It does appear as if a life sentence at 25 was as severe as could, 
have been had the case "been the worst possible to men. 

Surely a careful revision is not too much to ask. I earnestly join. 
my request to that of Mr. Bright. 

(The Reverend) Charles H. Spurgeon. 

Aug. 4, 1887. 
I agree with the above. 

Randolph T. Churchill (M. P.). 

I strongly support Mr. Bright's request. 

John Morley (M. P.).. 

1 heartily support Mr. Bright's request. 

(The Marquis of) Lymington. 

I hope the case will be reconsidered. 

(The Marquis of) Hartington. 

Aug. 6, 1887. 
I think there is here a very strong case for the consideration of 
the Home Secretary. 

Charles Russell (Queen's Coun.). 

George Bidwell has made a record since his release, which has. 
won him the support of the best people, as is attested by numer- 
ous letters in his possession, also by the following selections from 
many notices of his efforts on the platform. The British govern- 
ment made no mistake in freeing him and need not fear to place- 
his brother under his influence. 

[From the Worcester Spy, Worcester, Mass., Feb. 28, 1890.] 

Society is none the worse because George Bidwell is again at 
large. On the contrary, no one could listen to the pathetic and 
unvarnished story as told by him last night at Horticultural 



APPENDIX. • 203 

Hall, without feeling that society has been the gainer by his libera- 
tion, and that many young men who may perhaps be on the brink 
of taking such a fatal plunge as he took may be warned in time. 

[Boston Daily Globe of Wednesday, March 11, 1890.] 

A large audience gathered in Tremont Temple last evening, to 
listen to George Bidwell's lecture on "Forging His Chains." It 
was probably one of the most thrilling and impressive lectures ever 
•delivered before a Boston audience, and was fully illustrated by 
stereopticon colored views, descriptive of American and English 
prisons, also views of the uniforms worn by the prison wardens, 
.guards, and convicts. A pathetic letter written by his brother, 
now incarcerated in an English prison where he has already served 
-eighteen years of his life, was produced on the screen. 

[Boston Herald of Wednesday, March 11, 1890.] 

A man who spent over fourteen years in English prisons told 
something about them to an audience in Tremont Temple last night. 
It was George Bid well, the now famous author of " Forging His 
Chains," who, in 1873, was sentenced to penal servitude for life for 
frauds on the Bank of England, and was released three or four 
years ago on ticket of leave. 

All his efforts on the lecture platform and in the field of authorship 
&re now devoted to securing means with which to prosecute his en- 
deavors in behalf of his younger brother Austin, who was sentenced 
with him eighteen years ago, and is still in prison in England. 

Mr. Bidwell made a good appearance on the stage. His earnest 
words went straight to the hearts of his hearers, and were rewarded 
with frequent applause. The " entertainment," as he called it, con- 
sisted of a brief sketch of his early life, the exhibition and explanation 
of a series of stereopticon views of prison scenes and kindred matters, 
and an account of his pursual and capture by detectives in IS 73. 

The lecture was full of sound moral precepts and devoid of sen- 
sational claptrap. "I am confident," Mr. Bidwell said, "that with- 
out exception, the men who take the money of others and give noth- 
ing in return inevitably come to misery and degradation." In 
.another place he spoke of the self-justification of roguery m which 
hardened rascals always indulge. " They are led on from step to 
step," he said, " until dishonesty becomes their second nature, and 
they believe it is right." 



204 APPENDIX. 

Speaking of the customary solitary confinement of nine months 
at the beginning -of a term in an English prison, he declared that 
it was put on at the wrong end of the term. He referred in com- 
plimentary words to the prison vans in use in England, and, on the- 
other hand, called the prison vans of the United States " a disgrace 
to civilization," in which sentiment the audience seemed to agree 
with him. 

The last picture shown was that of his faithful wife, who pre- 
served his home for him during all those long years of his impris- 
onment. She was in the audience. In response to the applause 
that greeted the exhibition of her picture, he said: " In behalf of 
that noble wife who is present at my lecture to-night for the first- 
time, I thank you for your generous approval." 

In relating the incidents of his flight and capture, Mr. Bidwelt 
became very much animated and made use of some vigorous expres- 
sions. "I took to being hunted naturally," he said, "although, 
that was the first time I was ever pursued by officers." 

The last thing on the programme, and perhaps the most strik- 
ing feature of all, was his appearance in English prison costume. 
While thus dressed, he recited "The Captive's Prayer" and " The= 
Prisoner's Dream," verses composed by him in prison. This formed 
a thrilling climax to a thoroughly interesting lecture. 

[Special to the New York World of December 28, 1890.] 

Hartford, Dec. 27, 1890. 

Of all the men who walk the streets of Hartford not one has a, 
life history more eventful than has George Bidwell, who was 
liberated by the English Government a few years ago. He walks, 
the streets as a free man, equal in all things to any freeman on 
God's footstool. That he is leading an honest and sacrificing life 
is doubted by no one who knows him. 

Mr. Bidwell lives with his family in a cosy cottage on the east 
side of the river. His wife remained true to him, and after many 
years they were again united. He is now a man of nearly sixty 
years, somewhat bent and quite lame, the result of his imprison- 
ment in England. 

In his canvassing tours, which have extended from Maine to the 
far West, he has usually met with a cordial reception. He relates 



i ^ J 



W 



J 



APPENDIX. 205 

gome instances, however, which greatly amused him at the time and 
of which he speaks when drawn out. On one occasion he entered 
a bank, approached the cashier and introduced himself, adding that 
he was taking subscriptions for " Forging His Chains." The 
cashier did not throw up his hands in holy horror, but he did the 
next thing possible — he was seized with the shivers. He curtly 
replied that he did not wish the book. Politely bowing, Mr. 
Bidwell started for the door bearing the words " President's Office."' 

The cashier went crazy, and, springing from his stool, her 
rushed out of his wire cage and grabbed the lame book agent by 
the collar. 

" You cannot see the President ! " shouted the cashier in a voice 
loud enough to be heard all over the room, and added still louder, 
"A forger in the bank! Get out quick." 

Mr. Bidwell left, but feels certain to this day that that cashier 
had been engaged in fraud of some kind, to be so sensitive and 
at the same time so pure. For a long time he watched the papers,, 
expecting a defalcation in the bank. 

Among other places where he got snubbed and was considered 
unclean was in the People's Savings Bank at Worcester. The treas- 
surer subscribed for a copy of the book, when he approached Teller 
Kimball, the latter having a fit of the horrors. The bank official 
was afraid of pollution, and waved the book agent away with & 
nickel-plated wave — one of the graceful species acquired only 
after weeks of patient practice — one of those far-away, searching, 
" git-out-of-this " kind. Mr. Bidwell suspected the man, and in a 
week or more Kimball and the bank's money were among the 
missing. 

Another guilty man who cared not to read " Forging His 
Chains," was Robinson, the Brockton (Mass.) forger. This alleged 
sample of piety held his head high on the occasion of Mr. Bid well's 
visit, and a day or two later was enjoying the atmosphere of 
Canada. 

But the bank men take kindly to the one of all others who was 
held in the greatest fear. He has been entertained by some of the 
leading bankers of New York, Chicago, and other cities, and 
feelingly refers to the confidence of these men in him. 

Mr. Bidwell has also distinguished himself as a lecturer. 



206 A LAST WORD FROM GEORGE BID WELL. 

Under the encouragement of prominent persons it had been my 
intention to go to England to lecture, in the hope of affecting a re- 
vulsion of feeling in favor of my imprisoned friends, but the follow- 
ing threat has caused me to give up the idea for the present : 

" With reference to Mr. George Bidwell's letter of the 17th No- 
vember, stating that it is his desire to return to England for the 
purpose of giving lectures, and enquiring as to the conditions under 
which the revocation of his License could be enforced, the Under 
Secretary of State has to inform him that his License is revocable 
at pleasure, and that no encouragement can be held out to him to 
return to England for the purpose mentioned. If Mr. George Bid- 
will does so return, it must be entirely at his own risk. 

Whitehall, 7th January, 1891." 

I have letters from merchants and clergymen — competent 
judges — that my public lectures are having a most salutary effect 
in keeping young men from giving way to the countless temptations 
which their parents as members of Society permit to surround and 
engulf them unawares. These are far worse than twenty years 
.since. By all means keep me out of England ! 

This spring of 1891 makes nearly four years since my libera- 
tion. The past three of these I have been before the public, 
and have made a record which has won me the support of the best 
people. 

After losing fifteen years of my prime, and in view of above 
record, is it not very hard to cause me to continue expending all 
the earnings gained by the severest labor of sixteen hours a day 
with feet, pen, and tongue, for the sale of my book, in the work to 
obtain the liberation of my brother, who has been punished beyond 
all reason? And this does not take into account the fact that in 
earning this money I have been obliged to be away from my wife, 
children, and grandchildren — absent from that pleasant home in 
East Hartford. If the British Government are dissatisfied with 
the amount of my punishment, as partially detailed in " Forging 
His Own Chains," then I will put myself in their hands again. It 
looks as though they hold my brother and punish me now, as above, 
out of vexation and spite at, in their view, the serious mistake of 
ever having freed me. But the Bidwells have pluck, and will 
never cease until Austin Bidwell shall be freed. 



The following by George Bidwell will appear shortly : 

THE BA TTLE OF LIFE . 

WONDERFUL LIFE STORY OF GEORGE BIDWELL, THE BANK OF ENG- 
LAND FORGER. 

HOW HE "FORGED HIS OWN CHAINS," 

And at 40 Landed in Newgate, including Thrilling Adventures in 
Europe and America. Price, 50 cents. 



SEQUEL, TO THE PRESENT VOLUME. 

15 YEARS Qltf A LIFE SEMTEMCE, 

The Most Graphic Account ever written of Convicts and 

Convict Life in English Prisons. 

Taking The Reader Behind The Scenes. 

Wonderful Eevelations — Remarkable Experiences — Stirring 
Incidents — Touching Stories, including the complete series of 
Tickets-of-Leave in facsimile as issued to Tichborne, the Claimant, 
and George Bidwell. The first ever published. Price, 50 cents. 
Each of these books complete in itself. 



NOW READY. 

FORGIHG HIS QWIM CHAIlffS, 

Entering Business as Honest a Young Man as ever left a 
Puritan Home — A Merchant — His Commercial Misfortunes — The 
Extraordinary Events, Circumstances, and Influences which at 40 
landed him in Newgate — The Memorable Trial at the Old Bailey 
for the Conception and Execution of the so-called £1,000,000 Forgery 
on the renowned Bank of England, concluding with the most 
Graphic Account ever written about Convicts and Convict Life in 
English Prisons during his 15 years' Incarceration on a Life Sen- 
tence. 624 pages — 100 Illustrations. The three smaller volumes 
are comprised in this. 

Illuminated Cloth binding, stamped in green and gold, with 
emblematic design, $2. In full Morocco, ditto, embossed gold with 
full gold edges, a superb volume, $5. 



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